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Do you Yahoo? (Big Brother is watching)

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I don't like to join Yahoo groups for reasons of privacy and some people consider me paranoid because of that and because I don't like to lower my privacy shields (don't like to enable cookies globally for just any old Web domain, etc.) and because I warn others against doing so. But the above is pretty good evidence that my caution is warranted. If you belong to a Yahoo group, have a Yahoo email address, or use Yahoo for any of your Web browsing (etc.) you must have enabled cookies for the Yahoo domain. That means you are having your browsing habits recorded (at least in part, quite possibly in large part) without your knowledge by Yahoo. I would say "without your knowledge" unless you're in the habit of reading the fine print. This page above enables you to "opt out", which I would urge you to do . . . but be careful, because on the following "Success" page the most prominent link "button" reverses the "opt out" choice and opts you back in. Also if you use more than one browser and/or computer, you'll have to "opt out" for each one.

Note, that these "Web Beacons", as they call them, are also being sent to anyone to whom Yahoo "or its agents" (probably including anyone with a Yahoo email address) send email which contain HTML formatting . . . a really dirty trick, if you ask me. They may claim "no personally identifiable" information all they want -- trusting them is not the wisest of choices in my book.

Mark 'Sporky' Stapleton Watermark Design, LLC

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Reply to
Sporkman
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Bring it on, Big Brother. I feel sorry for anyone whose job it is to monitor my internet doings. BO-RING! I am SUCH a GEEK!

Reply to
That70sTick

I am neither geek nor nerd, I am more of a dork. My anarchist friends scream about the grocery store rewards cards tracking their spending. Unless you have reason to worry, I just really don't care if it is known that I like frozen burritos. Or that I browse to Mother Jones on occasion =-0

Reply to
the_aborigine

You never heard of Carnivore and relatives? I doubt that many know of the latest incarnations from Winger Central.

Reply to
Cliff

The article in question is gone from the pages you list. Searches reveal the full text seems to have been removed from ZDNet. IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!! Yes, folks, good ol' Uncle Sam is scheming to deprive you of your Constitutional rights, and putting pressure on those who blow the whistle.

Seriously though, I don't have nearly the problem of my emails being scanned by the FBI for things like terrorist activity as I do with Yahoo tracking my browsing habits (innocent as my browsing habits are -- heh, heh).

But any rate, here's the article from the folks who filed the lawsuit:

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'Sporky' I may be paranoid, but that doesn't mean they're not out to get me.

------------------------ Cliff wrote:

...(clip)....

Reply to
Sporkman

"August 3, 2000"

Been dead quiet since than? Off to Cuba are they?

Reply to
Cliff

Hello Mark-

What anti-virus software do you use? I'm currently using three: Norton Anti-Virus Spybot AdAware The last two seem to work well. I'm surprised how many get by Norton Anti-Virus. Also, I always review my e-mails on my ISP servers before downloading to my computers.

Merry Christmas!

Best Regards, Devon T. Sowell

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Reply to
Devon T. Sowell

I don't think you should really be too surprised that spyware is getting past NAV, because it doesn't deal with spyware at all, and conversely, Spybot and Adaware have no capabilities regarding virus issues.

Reply to
bill a

I use the same three -- not that any of them would be of any use against these "Web Beacons". If you read the link carefully, you'll realize that what is happening is that Yahoo is making extended use of cookies, in a way that other companies (like DoubleClick) have been DENYING for some time that they do . . . not that anyone has believed them. Now Yahoo is admitting to it up front. They're recording their users' browsing. They say "No personally identifiable information about you is shared with partners from this research", but they only say that for browsing "outside the Yahoo network". Go ahead and say I'm paranoid, but if you don't think that means that they DO include personally identifiable information for IN network browsing then I'd say you need to think again.

But a very Merry Christmas to all, regardless of privacy issues.

'Sporky'

Reply to
Sporkman

Manage your cookies.

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Cookie Wall removes unwanted cookies. (Freeware) So, now surf everywhere and anywhere with your cookies enabled (Explorer settings) Cookie Wall removes them. Cookie mandatory websites are satisfied and your system remains clean. Let Yahoo put the cookie on your system and the next time you surf, there is nothing for Yahoo to retrieve and hence no tracking can be made. However, just about nothing can prevent Yahoo or anyone from tracking your IP address (except if you have rotating IP address - as in a dial up connection)

SW

Sporkman wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bigfootDOT.com:

Reply to
SWalker

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