That's exactly what it is - a masked referrer.  I have some in my logs all
the time:

    4: Oct/14/02  7:48 PM:
xxxx:+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A total of 12 like this over the past 10 days, out of 124,000.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Mount, Software Engineer            steve(at)saltyrain.com
Home Site                            http://www.saltyrain.com
US Constitution Online          http://www.usconstitution.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Louise Dade" <louise.dade(at)ntlworld.com>
To: <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 6:14 AM
Subject: Bizzarre Referrer Log Entry


> The bizzarre bit is the "arrived from" section.  That
> "XXXX:++++ etc..." was not made by me -- THAT is how it
> appears in the logs!  The the length of the URL I'm guessing
> they arrived from a search engine query.
>
> Is this some sort of URL masking to hide a surfer's tracks?
>   I've read about services that supposedly mask your trail
> through the WWW, but I've never seen it in action before -
> if indeed this really is what I think it is?

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