On Sat, 31 Mar 2001 14:09:29 -0500, Samuel W. Heywood wrote:
> On Sat, 31 Mar 2001 10:56:22 +0200, Bernie wrote:
>> The server can NOT look in your harddrive.
> If the server can't look into files on your HDD, then how is it that
> some sites are said to be able to use spyware to track your adventures
> all over the web? Also, how is that the server would think that you
> have no cookies unless it looks for them someplace on your HDD and cannot
> find them?
Sam, last things first: A server doesn't look for anything; it *asks*
your browser to provide something to it. If it wants a cookie, it asks
the browser to send "a cookie for what we're doing now" which starts
with" or some such. The browser searches its cookie file and if/when it
finds "a cookie for what we're doing now" [i.e. one that matches
paramenters sent by foreign server], that cookie is sent as requested.
Some sites can use "spyware" to track you because you never *leave* that
site. You may *think* you've left the site, but you haven't. It's like
some sites that have frames, and when you go to a foreign link the
original site's menu/ID/framework is still there ... the "spy sites"
have frames you don't see. I now believe that AltaVista is working on
that type of setup. I once visited AltaVista for a short period and
then went somewhere else; when I got to somewhere it had a javascript
that Arachne couldn't [of course] handle, and instead of the error
message I got an AltaVista page with info about javascripts!
NBCi uses this invisible framework too, if I guess correctly. That is
the only way you could "find a word, click, and get it explained"
"anywhere" ...
Now dozerware users don't even know what "frames" means, so I'm sure
they think all that crap [including the stock ticker which 'goes
everywhere with you'] is just one more "feature" of dozerware itself.
If you think you've gotten entangled in a "spy site" it is fairly easy
to cure with arachne. I just can't remember off hand how I do it, but I
think a "clear cache" which then reloads just the current page should do
the trick.
l.d.
-- Arachne V1.70;rev.3, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://arachne.cz/
