I remember I read something similar in Walter Isaacson&#x27;s &quot;The Innovators&quot; book. When the internet was just starting, Tim Berners-Lee was faced with the decision of made linking &quot;public&quot; or &quot;private&quot;. So basically they considered for a while that an &lt;a&gt; tag should be somehow &quot;authorized&quot; in order to exist. Of course this didn&#x27;t roll out (thankfully).<p>Sorry if something is not 100% right, it&#x27;s what I remember.