Last week Maximized Software Inc announced WebReferee, a Web server utility that prevents Webmeisters from linking other sites to their Web pages without authorization. WebReferee enables Webmasters to decide what other sites can access their own. The utility recognizes whether individual requests are authorised or not. Browsers from unauthorized sites are either greeted with an error message or redirected to a safe area. Do products like Web-Referee signal the end of unimpeded and serendipitous Web browsing? Howard Fram, product manager for Maximized says that the WebReferee concept was to be expected given the intense amount of development and funding brought by business interests to the Internet. And while Fram concedes that the Internet won’t be what the original creators set out to create, he points out that many of the people that speak idealistically about the Internet are simultaneously peddling their services to this booming market. Maximized sees WebReferee as meeting a legitimate business need. Fram says that media companies have expressed particular interest, both in order to protect their intellectual property and to reduce the number of uncredited hits on their servers. The product is also available in Maximized’s Site Shield bundle. WebReferee costs $129 per server, and it is available for both Windows NT and Solaris.
