The Internet doomsayers and fear-mongering, cookie-zealots have apparently won. For good or for bad, an effective DO-NOT-TRACK button is coming to your browser soon, according to Gizmodo and The Wall Street Journal.
So it seems, the paranoia over cookies has apparently prevailed. The Cookie-paranoia, fueled by fear fired up by bloggers seeking traffic (read “money”), Microsoft’s hypocritical opportunism, and Google’s oddly timed consolidation of its diverse privacy policies, has apparently won the battle, and all the Internet giants have been forced to acquiesce.
So those of you who tremble in fear when your anti-spyware program finds 1500 incidences of spyware on your computer in the form of nasty tracking cookies — soon will tremble no more. According to the reports we’ve read — the fear-mongers have prevailed.
This is bad news for cyber-criminals, who’ve long enjoyed the ridiculous debate over tracking cookies, because it took computer users’ eyes off important things like strong passwords, and the dangerous things like phishing sites, botnets, rogues and other insidious threats that are so prevalent on the Internet . As long as the anti-cookie brigade’s crusade was lighting up Cable news and the blogosphere, cyber criminals could go about their business. When so many were being distracted by relatively benign things like tracking cookies – the cyber criminals were free to go about their sinister work unnoticed.
The DO-NOT-TRACK buttons (ones that really work – not like the ones we have on browsers now that don’t really work) are coming all major browsers soon. We wonder with the fear of tracking cookies lessened, will computer users then start worrying about the serious threats that face them?
The following is from Gizmodo:
“While many browsers already feature a “do not track” button, in truth they’re largely ineffectual, because advertisers and tracking companies hadn’t agreed to honor the system. Now, prompted by the Obama administration’s attempt to ensure our online privacy, that is about to change.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a coalition of internet companies, including Google, has agreed to support a “do not track” initiative. The idea is that a button will be embedded in most web browsers, and hundreds of companies will conform to guidelines associated with that button being pressed. According to the WSJ, when that button is clicked…”
I’m thinking you guys use tracking cookies on your sites, therefore, you trivialize their use.
Let’s see. You’ve used a Juno.com address, a Yahoo.com address and now a throw away mailenator address as if you think we’d really spam you. You’ve used the names Joyce and Sue and Jay and JD. You’re always using aliases but you always forgot your IP address is showing. When does reason turn to paranoia? Your ISP is Road Runner NEO,RR.COM (Northeast Ohio) you’ve used all kinds of email addresses. Do you really think we’d spam you. Do you always live in fear? A cookie would only know that you lived near Cleveland, Ohio and that your ISP is Road Runner. And your browser history would show the last sites you’ve visited. So you’re worried about what?
And no — Thundercloud.net does not use tracking cookies. We use counter cookies that tell us how many visitors we had and from what country. EB and I have never looked at a single one of them. They’re used to keep our server logs and give us general information about the traffic this site gets.
Our privacy policy covers the ad networks we use. They use cookies. They may even use tracking cookies. I don’t know. I don’t really care. Tracking cookies are cookies like any other… I put a cookie up for you to look at – did you get some information from it?
It’s so easy to find out this stuff in a normal situation.
Jay, or whoever you are, you couldn’t be more wrong. I have subscribed to the Cloudeight Newsletters for many years and I have trusted T.C. and E.B.’s recommendations on keeping our computers safe and running smoothly.
They also offer their help whenever someone has a problem, and always warn us if there is a threat out there we need to watch for. You should be praising them instead of condemning them.
The privacy issue will grow to no avail. There are cameras everywhere, and cell phones are absolutely open to all kinds of tracking. Homeland security has let the government pry into the lives of the citizens of this country with hardly any restraints. You can now buy on e-bay a tracking device you can install in moving vehicles and record every place that vehicle has been with unerring accuracy. Just a matter of time when implants is all the people will occur. You are right cookies are nothing compared to what’s coming.
Having said all this I installed “do not track plus” yesterday as a protest of this invasion of my right to privacy.
I never have worried about tracking cookies…all the SCAREWARE has had my attention…thanks to TC & EB! I will ALWAYS TRUST YOU TWO and I recommend you to family & friends all the time.
This is one person who greatly appreciates your free “computer education” so THANK YOU for all of your hard work! (oh, sorry about using both Jan and Janice when I write but go by both)