All text © 1997 Glenn E. Stewart. All rights reserved.

Last modified: 31 January, 1999

I found out by accident on 07-24-97, that without my consent, my Internet Service Provider (ISP) had begun using my site to set a cookie on your machine! This is apparently no longer the case, but to me, it is a very disturbing practice.

A large percentage of web sites you visit these days set a cookie on your machine to gather information about your activities while you were visiting that site. The information is used to target advertising displayed on that site to your interests.

I consider this to be a gross invasion of your privacy and ungentlemanly to an extreme I can't describe in polite terms.

It is not, however, harmful. Please click the blue Cookie Central for an explanation of cookies.

If you have Netscape 3.0 or later, you can at least be informed when a server is trying to set a cookie. At the top of the Netscape screen, click on OPTIONS, and from the pull-down menu select NETWORK PREFERENCES, then select the PROTOCOLS tab and make sure the ACCEPTING A COOKIE box has a check mark in it. Click it to toggle it to the checked status. Now, every time a server wants to set a cookie, you'll get a dialog box asking if you want to allow the cookie to be set. When it does, click the CANCEL button to REJECT the cookie.

Click on the blue NSClean Privacy Software for information on cookie-blasting privacy software.

When you've reached the mental boiling point, as I have, over this issue, please send a short note to the Webmaster of every site that tries to set a cookie on your machine and let him know how you feel. If we all apply pressure, we can stop this insidious invasion of privacy. If we do nothing, we will only get what we deserve: less privacy and less security.

Back to the Main Page