"CarlosRivera" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> typed: > I am just trying to stay ahead of the people that build databases on us all.
(I apologize, because this is not the right forum for this discussion... I just need to get this out of my system. Read on at your own risk.) Out of curiosity, does it also bother you that people can make judgements (and "databases") about your income and social status based on the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the house in which you live, the job you hold, etc.? Search engines could track your searches and make judgements about your lifestyle; banks obviously keep information regarding the status of your accounts and credit history; the police keep your criminal history on file; the government knows plenty about you. Heck, your ISP could theoretically keep a complete history of your Internet activities if they wanted to. Everything you do carries the consequence that other people might be able to gather information about you. We have to draw the line somewhere as to what is acceptable and what isn't. Several options have been proposed that will assist you in hiding your screen resolution if you feel very strongly about it. I'd be willing to bet that for most of us, sending our screen resolution to an HTTP server is within the bounds of acceptability. *Especially* since it would be difficult to tie this information to a real identity unless you enter your name somewhere on the site. (And any site to which you are giving your personal information should be governed by a privacy policy you find acceptable.) While it would be relatively trivial to prevent a browser from submitting this information, incorporating as an easy option in a browser might undermine the purpose of sending that information in the first place: to allow the site to customize content based on the user agent's abilities to present it. I figure, hey, if companies want to waste their time and money collecting insignificant data like screen resolution to judge my income bracket, it certainly won't hurt me. It's not like they are able to take and broadcast a photograph of me naked. The worst thing that could happen is that they might be able to provide me with slightly-more-relevant product offerings instead of the completely-irrelevant ones. On the flip side, perhaps it will help them cater to those with special needs or those viewing the site on small-screen devices, etc. (...apologies again...) -- Ryan _______________________________________________ Mozilla-security mailing list Mozilla-security@mozilla.org http://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/mozilla-security
