Stupid ebay/amazon question

[Steven W. Orr]

On Thursday, Jun 29th 2006 at 10:42 -0400, quoth Python:

=>On Thu, 2006-06-29 at 09:51 -0400, Steven W. Orr wrote:
=>> On Thursday, Jun 29th 2006 at 09:40 -0400, quoth Paul Lussier:
=>> 
=>> =>"Steven W. Orr" <steveo at syslang.net> writes:
=>> =>
=>> =>> On Wednesday, Jun 28th 2006 at 11:13 -0400, quoth mike ledoux:
=>> =>>
=>> =>> =>On Wed, Jun 28, 2006 at 11:01:59AM -0400, Steven W. Orr wrote:
=>> =>> =>> I just want to try to keep my question on track. Yes, it gets deleted in 
=>> =>> =>> the appropriate fashion. The question is why does it appear after visiting 
=>> =>> =>> ebay? I do not get the sheer number of these messages when I don't go to 
=>> =>> =>> visit ebay.
=>> =>> =>
=>> =>> =>I'm guessing while you are at eBay browsing auctions, you probably
=>> =>> =>run across at least a few that have been placed by spammers/phishers
=>> =>> =>with embedded images, webbugs, cookies, etc.
=>> =>>
=>> =>> Bingo. I never thought of that. Thanks.
=>> =>
=>> =>Which is why I a) never fill in e-mail address field on my browser,
=>> =>and b) set the cookies option to "always ask".  If the cookie isn't
=>> =>from the domain I'm directly connected to, it gets denied.  As does
=>> =>anything from a system matching the regex ad*.*.* :)
=>> 
=>> Ok. I take it back. I thought this was a good explanation but I realize 
=>> it's not. Let's try again:
=>> 
=>> I go to ebay and I log in. Now ebay knows who I am. Then I browse around 
=>> and look at a bunch of different items. In no case am I providing anyone 
=>> with my email address. 
=>
=>I have the Firefox plug-in "Live Headers" which records the HTTP chit-
=>chat.  I saw no indication that an email address was sent.  Old browsers
=>(~1998 for sure) were pretty free and easy about passing out the email
=>address if they knew it, but that's been repaired.
=>
=>> Then, after a finish with ebay, for a few weeks, 
=>> the number of ebay spam messages goes up. 
=>
=>I get tons of eBay phishing emails.  I've never tried to correlate them
=>to my rare ebay visits.  (Also, they do not use the email address on
=>file with ebay.)  Could your experience be an observation error or
=>merely coincidence?
=>
=>> Yes, I did not discriminate with 
=>> the cookies; I let them all be set. Is that enough for them to know how to 
=>> get my address?
=>
=>I don't think so.  I mostly gave up on detailed cookie control and
=>simply delete them all periodically.  However cookies simply store data
=>from the server and allow some sharing of data (tracking) between
=>servers.  ebay is unlikely to be pushing your email address out for
=>others to grab.
=>
=>Surely you're not using a spy-ware infested Windows computer.

And now we get down to the nitty gritty. Am I crazy? Lord knows I've 
never been wrong about anything before so I'm probably due.

:-(