Re: doubleclick monitoring web browsing habits

On 13 Jun 96 at 16:19, Hal wrote:

> A post on comp.risks described a web adverstising service called
> "doubleclick".  As described in its web pages at <URL:
> http://ad.doubleclick.net >, this service provides targetted
> advertising on the web.
[..]
> One question is whether enough information to uniquely identify users
> is routinely provided by widely used browsers like Netscape.  I have

Supposedly Netscape has been responsive to this.  One of the changes 
in 2.0 had to do with giving out personal info (and people can verify 
this if they have the servers, etc.)

> refrained from telling my Netscape browser my name and email address out
> of fear that it would reveal this information; as a result, I can't use
> mailto: links, which is annoying (and also suspicious; lynx allows me to
> do mailto: without permanently entering an email address).

Lynx running under Unix can find out who you are on the system by 
checking your user id and the hostname.

Rob.

 
---
No-frills sig.
Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help"
Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl@unix.asb.com (root@magneto)
        AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl@unix.asb.com>
Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

>>>>> "Deranged" == Deranged Mutant <WlkngOwl@unix.asb.com> writes:

Deranged> On 13 Jun 96 at 16:19, Hal wrote:

>> refrained from telling my Netscape browser my name and email
>> address out of fear that it would reveal this information; as a
>> result, I can't use mailto: links, which is annoying (and also
>> suspicious; lynx allows me to do mailto: without permanently
>> entering an email address).

Deranged> Lynx running under Unix can find out who you are on the
Deranged> system by checking your user id and the hostname.

So what?  So can any program you run, and so can Lynx running under
VMS.  The Good Thing about Lynx is that it refuses to put any personal
information in mail sent via mailto: unless you explicitly tell it to
do so.  I like this feature.

-- 
steve@miranova.com baur
Unsolicited commercial e-mail will be proofread for $250/hour.
Andrea Seastrand: For your vote on the Telecom bill, I will vote for anyone
except you in November.