Generic URL-shortening services like goo.gl and bit.ly, should be made service-specific (image.ly, tube.ly) to avoid malware site redirects.
It would work like this. Hypothetical image-based URL shortener image-bit.ly would check to make sure the site pointed to met any of the following qualifiers:
-- Content of URL is a recognised image format. Require proper mime-type and image headers.
-- Content of URL is a recognised image service provider, e.g. Facebook photo, Flickr photo etc
This would prevent people doing something like the following:
"Hey check out this awesome photo of a rabbit SCUBA diving http://bit.ly/roLeb"
which actually redirects you to something else entirely, like a shopping website, or worse something seedy, a malware site, or actual criminal content.
A similar hypothetical tube-based URL shortener, pg-tube-bit.ly would do the same thing, but check the content was hosted on YouTube, or a variety of other family-friendly video hosting sites.
That way, you still get URL shortened goodness, but also content safety.
That's all!
-Tennessee
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3 comments:
I'd imagine many url shorteners exist that verify the HTTP headers match the expected content type.
The 'family-friendly sites only' idea is interesting though. Someone should do it :)
Ah, well - bit.ly already works this way (if the "long-domain" onwer have a deal with bit.ly) - ie just shortened a Techcrunch URL with bit.ly and got http://tcrn.ch/gZUJlG back...
Thanks for the responses... yes bit.ly does have 'special' urls for particular content providers. However I still think it's a long way off what it could be, and probably will be in the nearish future.
The other issue with the special partner URLs is that they are specific to the provider, not to the content type. Joe Public can't get at them for their own hosted image content, which is a shame.
On the other hand, at least the current service goes some way. http://on.fb.me/g76FHZ is a Facebook photo of me (probably only friends-of-friends can see unless I've borked my privacy settings) but I can't say as on.fb.me instantly jumps out as a trustable link. I'd prefer not to have to remember a dozen trustable prefixes, but much rather have fb.bit.ly, image.bit.ly, flickr.bit.ly, and then I could realise than anything with a prefix comes via a particular service, verified as such by the great team at bit.ly.
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