Jeff Johnson has just released version six of his web browser add-on, StopTheMadness. The plugin, available in Safari, Firefox and Chrome, has always fought against sites to prevent them overriding and disabling browser features.

This version prevents link auditing in Safari using the HTML 5 anchor ‘ping’ feature. Johnson recently discovered that Safari no longer honours a hidden preference which previously disabled the feature. Similarly, Chrome will soon drop a similar preference.

In explaining his concerns with the ‘ping’ feature, he takes browser vendors to task:

One of the stated benefits of anchor ping is that it allows the user to see the final target URL unobscured. My question is, why did browser vendors allow the final target URL to get obscured in the first place? Why do browsers even allow JavaScript clickjacking? Why do browsers allow cross-origin redirects without the user’s permission? In my opinion, this supposed benefit of anchor ping is simply an excuse that lets the browsers off the hook for their total failure to protect users from link tracking.

Worth noting: Firefox disables the ‘ping’ feature by default.