posted on March 7, 2001 05:14:32 PM
Hello everyone. I have some good news and some bad news to share. First the bad news. The increased use of web bug tracking devices is growing at an alarming rate and their technology is becoming more sophisticated every day. Web bugs are invisible pieces of code that can be used for, among other things, secretly tracking people's Web travels and stealing your computer files and email address book. Please read this current article exposing the dangers of web bugs: http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/0,1643,500458962-500698574-503789316-0,00.html I really believe the web bug will eventually replace the "cookie" for data storage and tracking and, because they're invisible, that's not a good thing.
Now for the good news. A new program designed by GRC's Steve Gibson that will be coming out very soon and will filter out many of the "tricks" used by advertisers to invade our privacy. I am currently using WebWasher which effectively removes web bugs and just about everything else but the 10 percent resource usage it requires is a deterrent to those with smaller hard drives. Steve's new program called GRC netfilter will work much like WebWasher but will use less resources. Here is a quote from Steve about the GRC netfilter:
"I remain very VERY excited about having a fast. lightweight, and easy
to use network filtration development platform onto which anything we
want can be built. It will be the perfect non-redundant companion to
anyone's firewall, and it will be able to duplicate the functionality
of other more messy proxying products while exceeding their
capabilities."
The other good news is a program coming out on March 15 called Personal Sentinel that will alert users to the amount of bugs on a web site. It won't get rid of them but it'll let you know that they are there so they won't be hidden any longer.
"Intelytics plans to unveil a free service in two weeks that surfers can use to spy on the spies. Its software, called Personal Sentinel, will alert consumers to the "risk level" of any given Web site by listing the number of Web bugs working behind the scenes."
posted on March 7, 2001 10:09:45 PM
Hiya reddeer. Thanks for your interest. BTW, I took a peek at your auctions and they really look great!! The new pictures are loading faster than your older ones. Who says you can't do it yourself!!
posted on March 7, 2001 10:21:24 PM
Thanks Blanche! I've been messing around with my listings for the past few days, and have almost got things to where I want them.
Now I just need to get busy listing some more "stuff".
edited cause it's late & I need a nap ....
[ edited by reddeer on Mar 7, 2001 10:22 PM ]
A new program designed by GRC's Steve Gibson that will be coming out very soon and will filter out many of the "tricks" used by advertisers to invade our privacy. I am currently using WebWasher which effectively removes web bugs and just about everything else but the 10 percent resource usage it requires is a deterrent to those with smaller hard drives. Steve's new program called GRC netfilter will work much like WebWasher but will use less resources. Here is a quote from Steve about the GRC netfilter: