FYI for Yahoo users

Travis Roy travis at scootz.net
Tue Nov 12 11:59:25 EST 2002


Using something like AdSubtract, Junkbuster, or other ad filtering
software will usually get rid of this crap..

I have some details at
http://scootz.net/removing_online_advertising.html

What I can leak out is somewhat limited.. Ask me again in 4 years when
my NDA that I signed at BURST! Media runs out (www.burstmedia.com) :)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gnhlug-discuss-admin at mail.gnhlug.org 
> [mailto:gnhlug-discuss-admin at mail.gnhlug.org] On Behalf Of 
> bscott at ntisys.com
> Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 11:34 AM
> To: Greater NH Linux User Group
> Subject: Re: FYI for Yahoo users
> 
> 
> On Tue, 12 Nov 2002, at 7:59am, mcostolo at yahoo.com wrote:
> > I was recently made aware of Yahoo's use of "Web Beacons" ...
> 
>   Additional FYI:
> 
>   The practice of embedding single-pixel images in an HTML 
> file for the purposes of tracking page usage is common place. 
>  These are also called "web bugs" (because they track your 
> position like a "bug" in a spy movie).  "Web beacons" is the 
> marketing term for them.
> 
>   The way it works is as follows: A image is embedded in an 
> HTML file (e.g., web page, or some email) via the standard 
> IMG tag.  When people view said HTML, the image is retrieved. 
>  This can be noted in server log files.  The image is often 
> hosted on a server shared by many customers (e.g., 
> DoubleClick's ad servers).  Said servers will often give a 
> cookie to the user's browser, allowing the browser to be 
> tracked from web page to web page.  In email and other 
> individually-generated HTML files, unique identifying 
> information is often embedded in the image URL, allowing 
> tracking without cookies.
> 
>   The image does not, in fact, need to be a single pixel; the 
> single-pixel trick just makes the image hard to spot.
> 
>   More information on this and other privacy-invading 
> marketing tricks (and counter-measures you can employ) is 
> available at the JunkBusters web site (http://www.junkbusters.com).
>   
> -- 
> Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
> | The opinions expressed in this message are those of the 
> author and do 
> | not | necessarily represent the views or policy of any 
> other person, 
> | entity or  | organization.  All information is provided without 
> | warranty of any kind.  |
> 
> 
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