INTERNET PRIVACY

Marketing companies www.doubleclick.netThe cookie leak security hole in the HTML Email messages

The Web BugCan we trust the privacy policies of Web sites

Web policeSome tips to eliminate the fears of web security

References

www.doubleclick.net Double click is a banner ad company, it provides it’s address so when any

one click on that address most of the information about that person will be transferred from the user computer to the DoubleClick server. These information can be any thing like: personal identifiable information or transactional data.

Personal data like: Email address Full name Mailing address Phone number

Transactional data like: Names of movies a user searches for Detail of a plane trip Health conditions

The cookie leak security hole in Html Email messages

A cookie is a small text file that a website can place on the computer’s hard drive in order for example to collect information about the user activities on the site or to make possible for the user to use online “shopping cart”.

The cookie transmits this information back to the Web site’s computer.

The Web Bug Web Bug is a graphic on a Web page or in an Email message

that is designed to monitor who is reading the Web page or the Email message.

Web Bugs are invisible because they are very small in size, they are only 1x1 pixel.

They are represented As HTML IMG tags. When a Web Bug is viewed these information will be sent to a

server: The IP address of the computer that fetched the Bug The URL of the page that the Bug is located on The URL of the Bug image The time the Bug was viewed The type of browser that fetched the Bug A previously set cookie value

CONT. Here are two examples of a web bug

<img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/pixel.quicken/NEW" width=1 height=1 border=0>

<IMG WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1 border=0 SRC="http://media.preferences.com/ping?

ML_SD=IntuitTE_Intuit_1x1_RunOfSite_A ny&db_afcr=4B31-C2FB-

10E2C&event=reghome&group=register&time=1999.10.27.20.5 6.37">

Can we trust the privacy policies of Web sites? Most of the web site providers give assurances that they will never share

or give any information about their customers. But most of the time these companies can’t keep up with their promises.

One example is InfoBeat, a news letter published by Sony Music. In InfoBeat privacy policy, they promised to never to give out a subscriber’s Email address:

http://www.infobeat.com/static/cgi/static_merc.cgi?page=integrity.html&

( We will NEVER release, sell or give a subscriber's name or e-mail address to any other party or organization, without the subscriber's explicit permission). I think the people at the InfoBeat were

at some sense honest, but what they forget about was the banner ads companies that appear in the newsletter. And we know from previous examples what these companies will do to get the information they want.

Web police It is an international organization dedicated to

protecting and serving the users of the Internet community. It has 61 agencies world wide.

It provides services such as: investigation, tracking, recording, prosecution, termination of the criminal activities on the Internet.

The organization has a database that contains records of every criminal reported since 1986. These records help the organization to develop new procedures to prevent future Internet crimes.

Some tips to eliminate the fears of Web security Encrypt your Emial; there is a software that allows you

to convert your file into a secret code that looks like random garbage.

Get a free e-mail account, and use that e-mail address, because it is easier to cancel and/or change that e-mail than your real one.

Caution your kids never to give away addresses, last names or phone numbers.

Use undercover shoppers like ( Public Eye ) to investigate websites

Use an uneasy guess password.

References Web programming/ Internet privacy

(http://www.tiac.net/users/smiths/privacy/banads.htm) Web programming/ Internet privacy/cookie

(http://www.tiac.net/users/smiths/privacy/cookleak.htm) International web police an agency of interGOV

(http://www.web-police.org/) Your guide to the best of the web(http://www.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9711/

netstoppers1.html)

Web bug FAQ (http://www.tiac.net/users/smiths/privacy/wbfaq.htm)