On the |
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by Jim Evans |
As you surf the Web, you can have a care-free attitude, you can check out the right-wing sites, the left-wing sites, the pornographic places and all the other places that you would never go to, if someone would know who you were.
A New Yorker cartoon from 1993 portrayed a dog sitting at a computer terminal and talking to another dog sitting on the ground saying "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." Well, on today's Internet, people do know if you are a dog.
While you are happily surfing, various Web site's are gathering information about you. Try this, point your Web browser to http://www.anonymizercom/cgibin/snoop.pl and wait a moment and the site will reveal information about you. In my case, it said who my Internet provider was, from where in the country was calling, what kind of computer and operating system I have, what browser I was using, and what page I was on before I came to this site.
This is all thanks to wonderful new things like Java and "cookies". Perhaps you have noticed a small file in your Internet browser folder called Cookie.txt that has a date and time of the last time you were on the Web. If you look at this cookie file, you will see various pieces of information from sites that you have been to. Try this, point your Web browser to http://www.illuminatus.com/cookie. Then hit the reload button on your browser, and watch the counter on the page keep track of how many times you hit reload or come back to the site. There is also a button on the site to let you view your own cookie file.
Java, the hot programming language of the Internet, is what allows Web sites to learn about who you are. The cookie file is being used in as much the same way as the bookmark or favorite places Piles are used in your Web browser. Only instead of you putting information in there, the Web site that you are visiting is recording information for the next time you come back. If you have a recent version of a Web browser, these tools cannot be used to look elsewhere on your hard drive for private information. This was a concern earlier on, but Microsoft and Netscape fixed these concerns.
There are also some useful applications of this new technology. Many sites require that you register with a user name and password to get past the initial page. The New York Times Web site at http://nytimes.nytimes.com is an example. Recently the New York Times site has added an option to have it "memorize" your user name and password for you. This information is stored in the cookie file and sent to the site as you enter it to allow access.
The Microsoft Network at http://www.msn.com allows you to customize how the page appears and with what kinds of information. You can have links to some favorite pages, what kind of news you want to see, stock prices and sport scores appear, all of your own choosing. Then each time you go back to the page, you will see this information displayed for you. Just like the New York Times site, all of this is stored in your cookie file.
But what if you want to surf anonymously and not have Web sites know who you are? The Anonymizer at http://www.anonymizer.com is your solution. You can surf from their site and go wherever you want, and no one will know who you are. The site gives directions on how to set it up so this can be your default starting place. The cost of this service to you is nothing. The Anonymizer is looking to sell ads on its site to pay for its services.
You could delete the cookie file each time you go on the Web, but then you would lose the benefits of the cookie file when you go to such places as the New York Times or the Microsoft Network sites. The important thing to remember is that you are not nameless when you go on the Web. Web sites can and do gather information about you.
Reprint from the PC Chronicles, Greater Cleveland [Ohio] PC User's Group.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.
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