From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Fri May 10 2002 - 14:03:47 MDT
On Friday, May 10, 2002, at 10:10 am, Michael Wiik wrote:
> Mike Lorrey <mlorrey@datamann.com> wrote:
>
>> Michael Wiik wrote:
>>> I would, but I don't trust sites that force me to accept cookies
>>> without
>>> a valid reason.
>>
>> The cookie is a user login. It allows you access to the site thereafter
>> without having to log in every time. Is that valid enough for you?
>
> Perhaps, but there was no login. I set Opera to allow cookies from
> Yahoo, it then set two long cookies and refused to show the page. Only
> after I had set it to allow 3rd party cookies from yahoo.com did it
> work. (Perhaps it was an issue with my Opera settings).
>
> In any case I'm now reading your article...
>
> -Mike
Yahoo makes their money from advertisers. These third-party cookies
don't go to Yahoo, but go to advertisers. Basically Yahoo is letting
advertisers record what words you are searching for, what groups you get
into, and what web-pages you look at. They then put you on advertising
lists for these interests and spam you with ads. Yahoo has your phone
number and postal address as part of your account information, so they
sell your information to e-mail spammers, phone solicitors, and bulk
mail producers. These lists also are for sale so that politicians or
other groups can look for people associated with certain interests or
groups. Your personal habits and associations with groups, web
browsing, searches, online messaging and other connections are now for
sale.
This is not a problem with Opera's settings. Opera gives you more
control over cookies. It allows you to allow direct cookies that might
be required by the site while blocking third-party cookies which go to
advertisers or spammers not directly involved with your current
transaction. Yahoo won't cooperate unless you allow these third-party
cookies because they want your information to go to third parties so
that they can get their kickbacks. There is nothing wrong with this
scheme if consumers are fully informed and aware. But when people start
getting unsolicited e-mail, phone calls and bulk mail claiming that they
"requested" this information, most people don't understand how they
"requested" it or would not have "requested" it if they had realized
what was going on.
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISSP <www.HarveyNewstrom.com> Principal Security Consultant <www.Newstaff.com>
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