-Caveat Lector- ``It was a mistake on our part. It was not intentional,'' Stepp said Tuesday.
Spy angencies do not make mistakes of this kind. --SW ------- Forwarded message follows ------- CIA Removes Web Tracking Software By DAVID HO .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The CIA got caught with a hand in the Internet cookie jar. The agency removed tracking software known as a ``cookie'' from one of its Web sites this week after a private group discovered the banned practice, said Mike Stepp, who manages the CIA's public Web site. ``It was a mistake on our part. It was not intentional,'' Stepp said Tuesday. ``The public does not need to be concerned that the CIA is tracking them. We're a bit busy to be doing that.'' Cookies are small software files often placed on computers without a person's knowledge. The files can make Internet browsing more convenient by letting sites distinguish user preferences, but they have been criticized for violating privacy because they can track Web surfing. The government issued strict rules for how federal agencies may use cookies in 2000 after it was discovered that the White House drug policy office had used the technology to track computer users viewing its online anti-drug advertising. The rules ban the use of ``persistent'' cookies, which track Web habits over years. One of those long-lasting cookies was found Thursday on a CIA site by Daniel Brandt, president of Public Information Research, a private San Antonio-based group that preserves publications related to intelligence and business. Brandt said he discovered the cookie, which keeps working until 2010, when he was looking at the Web site for the CIA's Electronic Reading Room, which provides access to previously released agency documents. ``They're not supposed to be doing this,'' Brandt said. He said he was particularly concerned because the reading room site allows users seeking documents to search for particular words. ``The keywords you put in reveal an incredible amount about what you're looking for and what your interests are,'' Brandt said. ``It would be very, very tempting to track that kind of information.'' A notice on the CIA Web site states: ``The Central Intelligence Agency Web site does NOT use the 'cookies' that some Web sites use to gather and store information about your visits to their sites.'' Brandt sent e-mail to the CIA with his concerns and the agency responded on Monday, removing the cookie and some other temporary cookies that were discovered. Stepp said an outside company had redesigned the reading room Web site, which was posted to the Internet on Jan. 29. ``Unbeknownst to us, it was loaded with some software, commercial off-the-shelf software used for Web analysis,'' Stepp said. The software included a cookie that tracked repeat visitors to the site. To make sure no improper information about site visitors had been recorded, Stepp said two sets of log files would be destroyed. Congress issued a study last summer that found 300 cookies still on the Web sites of 23 agencies despite the government ban. On the Net: CIA Electronic Reading Room: http://www.foia.ucia.gov/ Public Information Research site on CIA cookie: http://www.pir.org/ciascan.html AP-NY-03-19-02 1808EST Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. ------- End of forwarded message ------- ------------------------ "In little more than a year we have gone from enjoying peace and the most prosperous economy in our history, to a nation plunged into war, recession and fear. This is a nation being transformed before our very eyes." http://www.truthout.com Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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