diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index 08a7a0ff22..54feeae183 100755
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -7105,10 +7105,16 @@ David  7 July 2007
         filesys.C
 
 Janus	8 July 2007
-    - Fixed an issue causing people to appear anonymous in the top hosts pages on
-      projects with no automatic MySQL connection set up.
+    - Fixed an issue causing people to appear anonymous in the top hosts
+        pages on projects with no automatic MySQL connection set up.
     
     html/user/
         top_hosts.php
 
+David  9 July 2007
+    - client: add "dont_contact_ref_site" config flag;
+        suppresses connectivity-testing connections to google.com
 
+    client/
+        log_flags.C,h
+        net_stats.C
diff --git a/client/log_flags.C b/client/log_flags.C
index 8481a1d2fd..a10d156b6e 100644
--- a/client/log_flags.C
+++ b/client/log_flags.C
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@ int CONFIG::parse_options(XML_PARSER& xp) {
         if (xp.parse_bool(tag, "os_random_only", os_random_only)) continue;
         if (xp.parse_bool(tag, "no_alt_platform", no_alt_platform)) continue;
         if (xp.parse_bool(tag, "simple_gui_only", simple_gui_only)) continue;
+        if (xp.parse_bool(tag, "dont_contact_ref_site", dont_contact_ref_site)) continue;
         msg_printf(NULL, MSG_USER_ERROR, "Unparsed tag in %s: <%s>\n",
             CONFIG_FILE, tag
         );
diff --git a/client/log_flags.h b/client/log_flags.h
index 3ce8b5fca7..2d40c87f60 100644
--- a/client/log_flags.h
+++ b/client/log_flags.h
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ struct CONFIG {
     bool os_random_only;
     bool no_alt_platform;
     bool simple_gui_only;
+    bool dont_contact_ref_site;
 
     CONFIG();
     void defaults();
diff --git a/client/net_stats.C b/client/net_stats.C
index 0bd6c96f3a..af3b811ec4 100644
--- a/client/net_stats.C
+++ b/client/net_stats.C
@@ -218,6 +218,7 @@ void NET_STATUS::got_http_error() {
         && gstate.now > gstate.last_wakeup_time + 30
             // for 30 seconds after wakeup, the network system (DNS etc.)
             // may still be coming up, so don't worry for now
+        && !config.dont_contact_ref_site
     ) {
 	    if (log_flags.network_status_debug) {
 		    msg_printf(0, MSG_INFO,