29 Dec 2005
NSA Web Site Plants 'Cookies' on Computers

OK, so the NSA may have been involved in some pretty serious Constitutional crimes recently - but placing cookies wasn't one of them. I have never really understood "cookie paranoia". No website operator can deduce anything more from a visit to the site than your IP address and possible general geographic location unless you fill in a form giving them more information. Which is precisely what most folks who see the nefarious cookie spying on their porn surfing do.

To track your browsing using cookies would require a massive cross referenced database of cookie ID's and domains - some ad companies (DoubleClick comes to mind), have been accused of this in the past, but the truth is that since most ads are served remotely, there's no need whatsoever to coordinate cookies. All that needs done (and frequently is done) is to set a cookie from the ad server domain showing what ads have been viewed (and possibly clicked), with the only reference at all to the page currently under view being for the purpose of paying for the display of the ad!

I wonder how many of the folks who lay awake at night worrying about their computer turning into a cookie jar are the same folks who wear rubber gloves when typing to keep from catching a computer virus...

AP - The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

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