TeMerc
join:2004-01-22
Phoenix, AZ
| Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers By Antone Gonsalves
Courtesy of TechWeb News
Updated Thursday, March 31, 2005, 5:14 PM EST
United Virtualities is offering online marketers and publishers technology that attempts to undermine the growing trend among consumers to delete cookies planted in their computers.
The New York company on Thursday unveiled what it calls PIE, or persistent identification element, a technology that's uploaded to a browser and restores deleted cookies. In addition, PIE, which can't be easily removed, can also act as a cookie backup, since it contains the same information.
Cookies are small files often uploaded to people's computers as they visit websites run by retailers, entertainment companies, newspapers and other businesses. The text files contain information that's used to track visitors' behavior, or to offer visitors products or services based on information gathered during previous visits, a process called personalization. In addition, cookie-gathered information is often pivotal for advertising campaigns and e-mail marketing.
According to JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia Corp., 58 percent of Internet users have deleted the tiny files, essentially making many consumers anonymous during site visits. In addition, 39 percent of consumers are deleting cookies from their primary computer monthly.
United Virtualities's PIE helps combat this consumer behavior by leveraging a feature in Flash MX called local shared objects. Flash MX is a Macromedia Inc. application for developing multimedia Web content, user interfaces and Web applications. The technology runs on a Flash Player that the company says is deployed on 98 percent of Internet-capable computers.
Full read:»www.internetweek.com/breakingNew···60400749
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Remember............You can NEVER be OVERPROTECTED!!»temerc.com/ | |
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 B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting ConsumersSheesh, and I thought that had to be a joke. Because we already had at least one annoying cookie bypass technology in web bugs.
The Macromedia countermeasures are at »www.macromedia.com/support/docum···l#117498
There doesn't seem to be an "Accept for current session only" option. I wonder if setting storage limits at 0 would work or would it cripple use of some Flash sites?
Thanks, TeMerc  .
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In a realm outside causality and function | |
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 | g3guy
join:2002-08-03
Sedona, AZ
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers Thanks TeMerc and B. I had gone through some of the Flash settings in the past but never realized the extent of them. I'll check out the consequences of some of the settings today and post if someone doesn't beat me to it. Of course you can always disable Flash except when you really need it. | |
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Owlbet
Ignite the Ice
Premium,MVM
join:2002-09-24
Palmer, AK
clubs:
 ·MTA Online
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers said by g3guy :Of course you can always disable Flash except when you really need it. Or keep it totally off your computer like I've chosen to do.
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Rocky is, was, and always will be Dawg E. Dawg. | |
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| | | spooler0
Premium
join:2004-11-17
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers said by Owlbet :said by g3guy :Of course you can always disable Flash except when you really need it.
Or keep it totally off your computer like I've chosen to do. Would you post how you are keeping Flash totally off your computer, Owlbet? | |
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Owlbet
Ignite the Ice
Premium,MVM
join:2002-09-24
Palmer, AK
clubs:
·MTA Online
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers SpywareBlaster, when the option is checked, blocks versions 4, 5, & 6 and I use WinXP with SP2, and it lets me know via the Information Bar when Active X wants to install software. If I've not initiated the installation, I don't install it, plain & simple. I can guarantee 100% that I don't have Flash in any shape or form on my home computer.
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Rocky is, was, and always will be Dawg E. Dawg. | |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
1 edit | same here! if a site does not have a non-flash page then i don't really need to visit said site 
EDIT: --and yes it is possible to never install flash in the first place and/or be prompted when it wants to install itself. | |
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oldduke
join:2001-06-15
Gulf Breeze, FL
·AT&T Southeast
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I presume PIE is real and not an April fools joke. Can we get a tutorial on how to stop this think dead in it's tracks? The vendor's remarks about the "goodness" of this thing are crap. Users delete cookies because they don't want them. Period. Thanks.
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Cogito ergo sum, I think.
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Cogito ergo sum, I think. | |
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g3guy
join:2002-08-03
Sedona, AZ | Well, I removed the sites already listed and, without going into detail, denied all and everything. All the sites I visited with any browser seem to still do their "Flash" thing without any problems. | |
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bkgam
Virtus In Ardus
Premium
join:2004-08-04
USA | I shall be a Cookie-Deleting Consumer forever! | |
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salzan
Experienced Optimist
Premium
join:2004-01-08
WA State
| I especially like this line:
"Any abuse of this technology is not welcomed by us," Tanembaum said. "We believe people should use this technology responsibly. If people don't want cookies in place, then (their browsers) shouldn't be tagged."
Yeah right! Of course nobody will misuse this technology. 
Unfortunately, this will affect my kid's setup far more than it will me, as most of her favorite sites use flash for their games. So I guess it's time to go on the "Flash Security Learning Curve" to come up with settings that are secure and yet still usable. What a PITA. (again) | |
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| B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers
This appears to be a real company that does various kinds of banner ad work.
I swear that the following really appears on their web site, concerning a different web ad product they sell:
Shoskele technology is original. It completely blurs the line between Internet content and targeted messaging, thus being intrusively unobtrusive. Of course, if the site weren't useless written in Flash, I could give you a URL citation!
Macromedia should really try to shut these guys down. This can only give Flash a bad name.
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In a realm outside causality and function | |
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Martinus
Premium
join:2001-08-06
EU
4 edits | Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers said by B :thus being intrusively unobtrusive. Intrusively unobtrusive?
And that's something they brag about? Do they really mean it or are they just using buzz words to get customers?
Edit: Come to think of it. This sentence is either written by a lawyer used to write meaningless stuff or by their flash guy who thought he came with the ultimate immortal sentence - cogito ergo sum, epur si muove, intrusively unobtrusive, etc -.
Anyhow. It doesn't make any sense at all.
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From the GSV "Ethics Gradient" | |
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triturus
@abbott.com | Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers How can Spyware Blaster be set up to block flash - is that only with the pro version? Thanks for any advice | |
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| | | | spooler0
Premium
join:2004-11-17
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers said by triturus:How can Spyware Blaster be set up to block flash - is that only with the pro version? Go to tools/flash killer in Spyware Blaster. Did not know there was a "Pro version" of Spyware Blaster.
Curious if owlbet is doing something more to totally keep Flash off his systems? | |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
 ·Comcast
1 edit | Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers said by triturus:
Curious if owlbet is doing something more to totally keep Flash off his systems?
Flash can be uninstalled. Go to Macromedia's site and download the uninstaller. It works pretty well. Then add macromedia.com to your restricted sites to prevent the ActiveX control from being downloaded again when browsing a flash enabled site. | |
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| | | B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| said by Martinus :Edit: Come to think of it. This sentence is either written by a lawyer used to write meaningless stuff or by their flash guy who thought he came with the ultimate immortal sentence - cogito ergo sum, epur si muove, intrusively unobtrusive, etc -. Well, yeah, that was my point. But it's not lawyereze. They "mean" every word of it.
Remember, these people are in the BUSINESS of advertising to people who don't want advertising. Their specialty is coming up with really annoying ads even if you've turned off every last scripting function you've got.
Their pitiful bragging here is just like the spammers who postulate, with straight faces, that people REALLY REALLY do want unsolicited ads but don't know it yet.
To spooler0 -- maybe Owlbet just doesn't install Flash? Personally I use both AdBlock and the Flash Click to View extension (later versions known as FlashBlock). But once you've run a particular piece of Flash content, you still need to "worry" about this new issue.
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function | |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
·Comcast
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers said by B :To spooler0 -- maybe Owlbet just doesn't install Flash? Personally I use both AdBlock and the Flash Click to View extension (later versions known as FlashBlock). But once you've run a particular piece of Flash content, you still need to "worry" about this new issue. -- B Is there a free version of flash click to view for IE or just Firefox? | |
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noflash
@sfldmi.ameritech
 from:
jaykaykay
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers I have been using a tiny standalone utility TurnFlash that works great.
»www.nirsoft.net/utils/tflash2.html
However, AFAIK, it is IE only. | |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
·Comcast
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers I tried it but you must close and restart your browser for the change to take effect. I have a popup blocker that also stops flash but it forces you to close and restart IE in order to enable or disable Flash. I was hoping for a way to do it on the fly and then just refresh the page. So far no luck. | |
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hpguru
Curb Your Dogma
Premium
join:2002-04-12
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers said by Jim Gurd :I was hoping for a way to do it on the fly and then just refresh the page. So far no luck. Proxomitron can do it. If I recall correctly one of the default filters will convert flash objects to links.
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PageTurner
Premium
join:2004-08-16
US | I use Spyware Blaster to disable flash. If I need it for something, it takes a couple of seconds to turn it back on. | |
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cork1958
Cork
join:2000-02-26
Fruitport, MI
·Verizon Online DSL
·Charter Pipeline
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers said by PageTurner :I use Spyware Blaster to disable flash. If I need it for something, it takes a couple of seconds to turn it back on. Same here. Especially on my 2 older computers. Flash is WAY over used!!
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Spread Opera, fastest browser on earth or Cyberspace! | |
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antdude
A Ninja Ant
Premium,VIP
join:2001-03-25
|  Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers
said by cork1958 :said by PageTurner :I use Spyware Blaster to disable flash. If I need it for something, it takes a couple of seconds to turn it back on. Same here. Especially on my 2 older computers. Flash is WAY over used!! Ditto even on my Athlon 64 machine! I am sick of Flash especially advertisements. I use FlashBlock and AdBlock in Mozilla v1.7.6. I will play Flash manually, even block them if necessary.
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Ant @ The Ant Farm: »antfarm.ma.cx ... Please do not IM/e-mail me for technical support. Use the forum (I check almost daily)! Disclaimer: The views expressed in this posting are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer. | |
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bkgam
Virtus In Ardus
Premium
join:2004-08-04
USA
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers Thank you.
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"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." -- Mahatma Gandhi | |
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| | B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting ConsumersOh sure, thank the admin. 
I gave an even more specific link above at »Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers ...
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In a realm outside causality and function | |
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antiserious
The Future ain't what it used to be
Premium
join:2001-12-12
Scranton, PA
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers
... thanks, B and Justin, for the link - seems I remember doing that for W98SE but I just had to do it for XP ... there was one entry in there, for ESPN ... do I have to access that page in IE as well, or is this one-and-done for the whole rig ...
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... "Nobody's perfect - well, there was this one guy, but we killed Him" ... Christopher Moore, 'Lamb' ... | |
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jig
join:2001-01-05
Hacienda Heights, CA
| i think you have to revisit the page every time you update flash to ensure the 0% rule is followed.
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Libra
Premium
join:2003-08-06
USA | B,
Thanks for linking the Macromedia global settings page. I've had that set for my Windows 98 computer but never set it on XP, until now.
This whole thing is disguesting.
Sincerely, Libra | |
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Mele20
Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
| I have flash on iE but I set the killbit long ago in Spyware Blaster so it never runs. I never installed it for Firefox, Mozilla or Opera. I also use Proxo and have it set to convert Flash objects to links. There's a toggle switch in Proxo also if you want to install Flash.
My ISP, Road Runner, and my favorite airline, Aloha, put their sites wholly behind Flash about six months or so ago. I was furious. I complained to both several times. Both now have html sites for those who don't use Flash. At first, when I complained, I got nowhere. But I kept at it and others must have also.
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The first and foremost function of our jurors is to protect private citizens from a tyrannical and intrusive government...Jurors are the last line of defense for liberty. Thomas Jefferson 1789 | |
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Varlik
Without Honor You Will Never Be Free
Premium
join:2002-01-06
Anderson, SC
1 edit |  How and where do we access this Macromedia Flash control panel? I cant even find a way to access any Flash controls. | |
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| BandHeight
join:2004-08-30
Portland, TX
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers What is probably confusing you is that the Flash controls aren't accessed via a file / executable stored on your PC. Settings are modified via various panels of an interactive web-based Settings Manager; evidently, the manager makes changes to a file or files where the settings are stored on the local PC. To some, these interactive panels may have appeared to simply be screenshots illustrating what needed to be changed using a local-PC utility; however, they are not just screenshots, they actually are the panels where changes need to be made.
There are several links amongst the Flash documentation site (previously posted here) that can be used to access the panels. I prefer this page:
»www.macromedia.com/support/docum···ger.html
which has a section entitled, "How do I get to the Settings Manager panel in Macromedia Flash Player?". The section has all the links to the needed panels nicely consolidated in one spot.
Simply click on each one and the settings panel will appear in a separate web page. Make your changes and it will be saved for use in your next and future Flash sessions. Some of the panels don't provide a lot of confidence that the modified settings "stick", but if you go back through the panels after making changes, you will see some that obviously have retained the proper settings, and you'll just have to assume that the others have been "remembered" also. | |
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Varlik
Without Honor You Will Never Be Free
Premium
join:2002-01-06
Anderson, SC
| Re: Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers Thanks BandHeight I'd forgotten that since I never need to access it for anything. Until now apparently.;) | |
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Why should I allow anyone or anything to follow me around if I don't want it to and why should there be something such as is described in that article that will allow it to continue. Disgusting what's happening on the Internet these days. I will continue to do whatever I can in my small way to thwart such happenings. I don't like carbohydrates, and making sure that cookies don't clog my system is a way that I control that for my health's sake. Bah humbug to PIE. Even the name isn't healthy!