this may be of interested to some...

Otmar

--- Forwarded Message from "Macworld Daily Tip" <[log in to unmask]> ---



Today's Tip: Noxious Cookies



Tip level: Intermediate

I've never been a big fan of "cookies" -- the files planted on your
hard drive by websites that wish to track your movements around a
site or server. It seems that my dislike for these things has now
been justified by DoubleClick -- a company responsible for many of
the banner ads you see on websites.

Apparently, DoubleClick has delivered the information found via its
cookies to an advertising network. This network can use this
information to target ads to consumers. For example, the advertisers
may know that you, Joe Shmoe, have a penchant for chocolate thanks to
your numerous trips to chocolatelygoodness.com and may direct that
you see more than your fair share of banner ads for chocolate. Some
may claim that this is nothing more than a more effective means of
advertising. I, on the other hand, claim that its unfair to use
information that I unwillingly provided in order to tempt me into a
purchase.

If you find this practice as noxious as I but refuse to disable
cookies in your browser, you can direct DoubleClick to refrain from
passing along the information in finds in the cookies on your drive.
To do so, take a trip to:

http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy_policy/privacy.htm

and look for the option to Opt Out. Click this option, select Opt
Out, and DoubleClick should no longer use your personal information
for its personal gain.