Protect My Cookies Please!

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Protect My Cookies Please!

Have you ever lost a login because you didn't write it down and the cookie that stored it for you was wiped by a spyware removal product?

Have you ever had to re-enter all of your credit card information into an ecommerce site you use all the time because the cookie that stored it for you was wiped by a spyware removal product?

Have you ever had to re-personalize your start page because the cookie that stored the information for you was wiped by a spyware removal product?

All three of these things have happened to me enough times that I have stopped using spyware removal products and instead rely on a personal firewall to keep spyware off my computer in the frst place.

The spyware removal software companies are getting a total free pass on this bullshit behavior because they are percieved as the "good guys" who are protecting the consumer.

Well I will tell you all something. They aren't good guys and I am pissed off at them.

They know they've got an issue though and they are doing something about it. They are asking the government (starting in California) to legislate this free pass into law with something called a "Good Samaritan" provision.

Good Samaratin my ass.

If the politicians are dumb enough to give them this free pass, they should have all their cookies wiped every morning at 2am for the rest of their lives.

Cookies may have privacy issues, but the answer is not to let spyware software companies wipe them without any liability.

I want my cookies protected. I want them to stay on my computer, unless I choose to take them off.

If you agree with me, sign up to SafeCount and let the politicians know that we aren't going to stand for such stupidity.

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» Should we pay more to have spyware removed? from JRB Technology
Anti-Virus companies are charging extra to remove spyware, should anti-virus software already take care of this? Lets take a closer look at viruses, worms and spyware. [Read More]

Tracked on Jun 30, 2005 9:28:38 AM

Posted June 17, 2005 in Venture Capital and Technology

Comments

The threat from cookies has been way over exaggerated in the press. All it is is a text file. They are mostly harmless. I've never used a spyware tool on any of my PC's, and I've never had a spyware infection. A firewall, up-to-date antivirus, not using IE or Outlook, and some common sense will keep you 99.9% clean.

Unfortunately, 90% of the Internet using public is deficient in at least one of those.

Posted by: Chris | Jun 17, 2005 7:49:23 AM

While cookies are just text files, they also are often left by ad serving entities so that they can track where you go long after the cookie as been left. That is why the anti spyware software makers remove them. I think what you want is spyware removal software that allows you to pick and choose what it quarantines or removes. That is what I do on my PC. On my MAC I just delete the dozens of cookies that accumulate over time that I don't recognize. Although its annoying, most browsers let you decide on an individual site basis if you should accept cookies. It's annoying because most cookies are temporary and will go away after the session expires. If browsers could intercept only permanent, or cookies set to expire after x days, then the intercept wouldn't be all that bad, especially if you've ok'd cookies for sites you visit frequently.

Posted by: Jackie Lightfield | Jun 17, 2005 8:08:08 AM

You live in a relatively free country, so you can keep all and / or any cookie want to any cookie information you know and you don’t know about. Just make sure you do not delete them, you don’t use any programs who delete cookies, go behind a firewall or buy a commercial product where you decide what you want to keep and/or to delete and make sure your system doesn’t crash.

I delete most of my cookies twice a day, I keep the ones where I know, what benefit I have from them. But to be honest, after a while even they (e.g. NYT) must go. They will send me over time so too many cookies, where I can’t figure out the purpose, so I even delete my ‘helping, friendly cookies’ and start all over again. Some suggestions:

First, cookie should identify themselves like “log-In”, tracks, ad-ID’s, etc. – let the customer decide

Second, why I should buy every 2 or 3 year a new computer, but some cookies stay for ever – respective for up to more than 30 years (I got 12 like this the last six hours)

Third, I have nothing against sessions – cookie, but they should not reside on clients side, after the session

Forth, the industry must learn, that a personal computer doesn’t belong to the advertisers and marketers, but to their dear client and the marketers should respect their clients will (and right).

I’m sure the marketer will only learn their lesson, when advertiser don’t buy and spend on their poorly worked out figures anymore …

Posted by: Hugo E. Martin | Jun 17, 2005 9:01:27 AM

Most of the better Spyware programs (Ad-Aware, etc) will leave your cookies alone unless you're letting them run full-out. No decent program should be removing /all/ your cookies -- certainly I'm happy if the program goes in and removes any advertising or spyware related cookies.

Although having a firewall will protect you from a privacy standpoint, it may not protect your computer from bogging down due to spyware, etc that has installed itself on your system. It's still the prudent thing to run some kind of spyware-specific software on a weekly basis, if only in "detect", not "repair" mode. Multiple lines of defense, and all that.

Tom

Posted by: tom | Jun 17, 2005 10:08:25 AM

I am still in the stone age. My husband will not let me view any bank info online or use a credit card online. Even though we have all sorts of spyware and antivirus programs etc. I am not allowed to shop online with a credit card. He has been in software for 35 years and he says there is always a way to get through and we can become victims of identity fraud. Go figure!

Posted by: ellen | Jun 17, 2005 12:20:15 PM

@ellen -- eeep! If you carry a checkbook or get mail, you're more likely to be the victim of identity theft then were you to shop online. fewer than 10 percent of identity thefts (currently) involve the use of computers, and usually this is not due to shopping online, but being "tricked" into giving out information. Certainly, there have been very, very few cases of "crackers" getting into data stores and swiping credit card info.

Of course, one time, I had a developer ask me to help trouble shoot his applications and I saw that he was passing credit cards & expirations in a URL, which was then getting logged to the server's access logs:

HTTP GET /order.jsp&uid=xxxx&cc=3123331333&exp=1102 /1.1

that type of stuff... Double eep!

Posted by: scott partee | Jun 17, 2005 2:02:18 PM

I will now eat my words

url : http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20050618/ts_nm/financial_mastercardinternational_dc -- security of 40 million credit cards potentially compromised.

Posted by: scott partee | Jun 18, 2005 1:16:51 AM

Consider switching to Firefox, it comes with a password manager which you can then use to remember your logins and passwords and use a single password.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Amit

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