Referral Lists for Tracking Distributed Content

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving a referral list that is associated with content received by a user, wherein the referral list includes an ID associated with a source from which the content was received by the user;
• and
• applying policy associated with one or more referrers on the referral list;
• modifying the referral list by inserting the user from whom the referral list was received.

A server comprising:

• one or more computer readable storage media;
• computer readable instructions on the one or more computer readable storage media which, when executed, implement a method comprising:
• receiving a referral list that is associated with content received by a user, wherein the referral list includes an ID associated with a source from which the content was received by the user;
• applying policy associated with one or more referrers on the referral list;
• modifying the referral list by inserting the user from whom the referral list was received;
• applying protections to the modified referral list to ensure that unauthorized entities are unable to manipulate content of the modified referral list;
• and
• sending a modified protected referral list back to the user.