Guest guest Posted December 3, 2004 Report Share Posted December 3, 2004 This was sent to me from another group I'm on - thought it might be useful to some of you Ann Anyone who is concerned about their privacy whilst surfing might like to know this. It's happened before, but appear to have re-set everyone's settings back to the 'we'll track you're Internet movements' version even if you previously opted out. They are using something called " Web Beacons " to track users around the net and see what you're doing and where you are going - similar to cookies but sneakier. Take a look at their updated privacy statement: http://privacy./privacy/us/pixels/details.html About half-way down the page, in the section " Outside the Network " , you'll see a little " click here " link that will let you " opt-out " of this method of snooping.! ONCE YOU HAVE CLICKED THAT LINK - YOU ARE OPTED OUT!!! Notice the " Success " message the top the next page. BE CAREFUL because on that page there is a " Cancel Opt-out " button that, if clicked, will *undo** the opt-out. Feel free to forward this to other groups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 3, 2004 Report Share Posted December 3, 2004 Thanks for that reminder Ann, below is a repost I put on here some time ago for the benefit of new surfers. ----------------------------- THE DAYS OF BIG BROTHER WATCHING YOUR EVERY MOVE ARE HERE. So I have written these notes on personal information security for new net users, or for those who just do not realise how vulnerable they may be to their personal information being sent via the internet without them knowing. 1. makes money every time you log onto their newsgroups. This is because they log every visitor, who they are and their home IP number. So don't think you are getting a free service because in commerce there is always a catch to such seemingly free services. They use that information to get their advertisers and can use it any other way they wish to generate income for the company. 2. (a) used to permit people to sign on by using a proxy server. For those who do not know, this is an intermediate server that strips your identity from the hidden information your computer transmits. That means web sites cannot identify who you are. Now you cannot sign on to newsgroups via a normal proxy, that means they can track who you are and how often you use their service as well as any other information their cookies tell them on your surfing habits. (b) MSN newsgroups can be accessed at the moment via a proxy server and therefore your anonymity is preserved. Not often I praise Microsoft but one up for them-at the moment:( 3. Cookies: It amazes me how many people let these damned spy programmes build up on their hard drive. Cookies are used by web sites in order to gather all kinds of commercially useful information on your web surfing activities. I have always refused to use cookies on my own web site. However, due to UK Government laws the servers now have to keep log files on every visit made to my web site. I can access those logs and see the IP address of every visitor. I dislike this as it is intrusive, but apart from not looking at the logs there is nothing I can do. You can only avoid such logging by doing what I do while surfing and use a proxy server called Anonymity 4 proxy: http://www.inetprivacy.com Using that you can click on web sites and they do not know who you are. 4. Active x scripts: If you permit a web site to allow these to be run on your computer you are running the risk of them being used to access personal data and transmit it back to the spying computer. Therefore, it is better to disable active x scripts in Windows - Internet Options - advanced menu. After years of being on the internet I have developed my own regime of clearing my computer of spyware as follows: 1. *Every time* I have finished visiting web sites I clear everything they have planted on my hard drive. In particular cookies under windows and Netscape and all of the 'Temporary Internet Files' under windows and 'Cache' files under Netscape. 2. An easy way to do this with Windows is using a lovely programme called PugeIE at www.purgeie.com This clears most of the garbage left after a session on the internet using Internet Explorer and it is worth every Dollar of the $30 it costs. With Netscape-depending on the version- you should delete the cookies and cache manually The next great hard drive cleanser is called MRU-Blaster. What this does is delete all of the history files in the windows registry which build up over time and can contain all kinds of personal information of value to the spyware makers-this one is FREE or you can donate. http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/mrublaster.html The only thing you need to be careful about is that when the computer reboots you may loose some settings such as the view menu in windows, but that takes just a couple of seconds to reset. 3. Spyware programmes. There are now many of these that can be planted on your hard drive when you hit a particular web site. These can send back to the spying computer all kinds of personal information including credit card numbers. There are now several programmes that you can use to sweep your computer for such spyware and delete it. A good one is Ad-aware from: www.lavasoft.com 4. Always use a firewall programme. Many people do not realise, but without a firewall as soon as you use Microsoft Media Player while on- line it sends out a message to the world to say you are on-line. That is fine if you want to use chat programmes, but otherwise block it. Several other programmes also broadcast to the world that you are connected to the net. The firewall also stops spy bots accessing your hard drive without you knowing about it, the Far East are a hive of such spy bots constantly trying to get access to your computer as soon as you go on-line. This is just a short intro to the subject and I hope it may help those who are technophobes to realise they must really take care while on the internet. Martin Watt http://www.aromamedical.com NO COOKIES FROM MY WEBSITE-NEVER WILL BE ==================================================== , " Ann Thorpe " <Ann@s...> wrote: > This was sent to me from another group I'm on - thought it might be useful to some of you > Ann > > Anyone who is concerned about their privacy whilst surfing might like > to know this. It's happened before, but appear to have re-set > everyone's settings back to the 'we'll track you're Internet > movements' version even if you previously opted out. > > They are using something called " Web Beacons " to track > users around the net and see what you're doing and where you are going > - similar to cookies but sneakier. > > Take a look at their updated privacy statement: > > http://privacy./privacy/us/pixels/details.html > > About half-way down the page, in the section " Outside the > Network " , you'll see a little " click here " link that will let you > " opt-out " of this method of snooping.! > > ONCE YOU HAVE CLICKED THAT LINK - YOU ARE OPTED OUT!!! > > Notice the " Success " message the top the next page. BE CAREFUL because > on that page there is a " Cancel Opt-out " button that, if clicked, will > *undo** the opt-out. > > Feel free to forward this to other groups. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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