Author: Tim Mirabile
Date: 08:18:58 11/22/00
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On November 22, 2000 at 09:31:25, Randy Schmidt wrote: >That is a very naive response! Cookies and such transmit tons of information to >all kinds of marketers, spam mailers, etc. Cookies don't actually DO anything, they just sit there. Sites set them and retrieve them. They can only contain information that the site already knew (I.E. you filled out a form of some kind, or simply a record of what pages you have visited on that site.) What that site does with that information is up to them. >For example, the new USCL server >from the USCF, was unaware that their software vendor had put predator-type >software embedded in the program. What this software did, and most do is send >the information to other vendors about your site visits, etc, etc. When the >USCF became aware of it, it was removed, but you needed to download a utility >from lavasoft to remove it completely. This has nothing to do with cookies. If you download and execute software from the net, you leave yourself wide open to this kind of thing. Such a program could delete files, or send any information from your hard drive to anyone else on the net (For example, Quicken or MS Money files). Connecting to the Internet at all requires a great deal of trust, since any software that runs while you are connected (this includes your operating system and background applications) could start sending information without your knowledge. >It is a real problem and to think that they are "just small files" is very >naive! Regardless of what you think of cookies, they should be the least of your worries.
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