how-to block ads
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Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA
| reply to Bobby_Peru
Re: How 'bad' are spyware cookies??
said by Bobby_Peru  : the marketing can arrive at your home or workplace (mailbox, telephone, front-door) or the data can continue to be compiled with no _present_day _noticable_ effect. "AdCompany.com" may also obtain, keep, track and correlate much more specifically identifying information, down to your name, street address, telephone number and all that can be obtained from that (from broad demographics, down to specific personal financial (health?) data from any number of dBases.) If the "Adcompany" doesn't know who you are, they will, as soon as a single "partner" "shares" enough information to ID you with specificity. This is why online Adcompanies have associated with "brick and mortar" dBases [and run "Contests" which require submission of personal data]. They can "Supplement" the online tracking data that they collect with data from other sources. How would "Adcompany" know, via cookies, that the person at IP address 123.45.67.89 who loaded their banner ad from SomeCompany.com at a specific time is really Jason Levine and that I live at 123 Someroad Lane? (Not my real address obviously.  )
Sure, they *might* be able to have a marketing deal with a company that I've given my personal information to, but this is hardly a cookie issue. If they can ID me every time I load up an ad banner of theirs, why even bother with cookies?
I do agree though that you should refuse any unneeded cookies. Not so much as a security issue, but because I think that sites overuse cookies. I have my browser configured to block 3rd party cookies, and prompt me on 1st party ones. (Session cookies are always allowed.)
If a site tries to load a cookie, I decide whether to allow it or not. Most times I block it. If the site is persistent in trying to put a cookie on my computer then they get Always Block status. (I've seen sites that require a cookie read/write to load up each image on the page!)
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-Jason Levine
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/
http://www.PCQandA.com/
http://www.urateit.com/ | |
Bobby_Peru
Premium
join:2003-06-16
2 edits | Jason, if you, or anyone, has any doubts about the "possibility" of alliances between cross-site online Ad/Cookie servers, like DoubleClick, and terrestrial targeted marketing firms with deep transactional (and more) data, like ABACUS, you might want consider that DoubleClick bought ABACUS some years ago.
While it is much more than a cookie issue, cookies are one place one can easily (no cost) exercise control to impede this.
»www.abacus-direct.com/corporate_profile.asp
»www.abacus-direct.com/doubleclic···tion.asp
said by ABACUS:
THE DOUBLECLICK CONNECTION
The Abacus-DoubleClick combination is more than dynamic and offers you solutions you can't find anywhere else. The Abacus-DoubleClick connection allows you to accurately identify and target your audience whether it is consumer or business to business. You can reach your customers through a multiple of channels including direct mail, Internet, e-mail, or wireless communications.
With the Abacus-DoubleClick connection you can identify where your customers and prospects are buying: web, catalog, retail or phone. This powerful pooled combination of information and technology will enable you to improve client profitability and increase your market share. »www.abacus-direct.com/products/p···ucts.asp
said by ABACUS:
ABACUS, a division of DoubleClick Inc., is a world leader in targeted marketing solutions. By combining transactional data, advanced statistical modeling, and extensive media reach, we target the customers most likely to buy your products or services.
The Abacus Alliance database of buyer behavior is the largest in the United States. It contains over 3.5 billion transactions from more than 90 million U.S. households and includes geographic, demographic, lifestyle, and behavioral data from catalog, retail, business-to-business, e-commerce, and publishing markets. We span multiple channels so you can integrate the most broadly based yet highly targeted campaigns for customer acquisition or retention. It's pretty obvious what can be done, and pretty obvious what they brag about doing. If it doesn't matter to a user, so be it (even though such acceptance ultimately 'trickles-down' to even greater intrusive behavior against everyone), but users should be aware.
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