Alta Vista caches queries

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Here's one more reason to worry about the implications of web search
engines: I just stopped in on Digital's new Alta Vista page, and was
surprised to find that the query field was filled in--with a search I ran
3 or 4 days ago. I doublechecked my end pretty thoroughly (scrubbing all
the files that Netscape 2.0b3 [Mac] generates--caches, global history,
etc., and eventually reinstaling Netscape from scratch). And it look an
awful lot like Alta Vista cached by query according to my IP address.
      Maybe dynamically assigned IPs ain't such a bad idea after all...

Hieronymous
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In article <199512220220.DAA27203@utopia.hacktic.nl>
nobody@REPLAY.COM (Anonymous) writes:
nobody> I just stopped in on Digital's new Alta Vista page, and was
nobody> surprised to find that the query field was filled in--with a
nobody> search I ran 3 or 4 days ago.

The forms interface for Alta Vista uses METHOD="GET", which means the
parameters for the query are encoded in the URL, not transmitted
separately as it would be for METHOD="POST".  For example, a search
for "cypherpunks" sends a request for the URL

http://www.altavista.digital.com\
/cgi-bin/query?what=web&q=cypherpunks&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0&pg=q

If I bookmark that URL and return to it later, Alta Vista will rerun
the query just as it did the first time (btw, the first two hits from
that search are detweiler pages).  On several visits to

http://www.altavista.digital.com/

I see no evidence that they are caching queries, so I suspect you
cached the query yourself by bookmarking a search result.

Of course, this does not mean that one shouldn't have the usual
privacy concerns that apply to any WWW service...

>>>>> "Hieronymous" == Anonymous  <nobody@REPLAY.COM> writes:

    Hieronymous> Here's one more
    Hieronymous> reason to worry about the implications of web search
    Hieronymous> engines: I just stopped in on Digital's new Alta
    Hieronymous> Vista page, and was surprised to find that the query
    Hieronymous> field was filled in--with a search I ran 3 or 4 days
    Hieronymous> ago.

I see no evidence whatsoever that caching is taking place.  The
Alta Vista robot browsed the web site I manage for months prior to
public release, and behaved in exemplary fashion.  In short, they
appear to be managed by people who know what they're doing.  There's
nothing sinister about Alta Vista IMHO.

Furthermore, no one has mentioned the positive changes made to
Dejanews since it got bashed thoroughly on this list a few weeks ago.
They've significantly turned down the amount of old information
indexed, and have restricted the groups (and mailing lists) they
archive.

-- 
steve@miranova.com baur