January 31, 2005

Cookies and Spyware - might not be what you think it is

As the issue of online security, as it should, gets more popular it's important for you to know that cookies and what you think is spyware are not always bad, but in many case are helpful.

Amazon.com for example leaves cookies on your computer, if you let it. Why? So when you come back to the site, Amazon.com knows who you are and can offer you a customized shopping experience.

There are some tools that are useful. For example a printing program that sends back to your printing vendor information about when you ink is low so they can email you with a one click option to buy more ink.

USA Today writes If you travel to a lot of sites served by DoubleClick (or a similar company ? I see cookies from specificclick.net and realcastmedia.com on my machine right now), your surfing habits can be tracked. In fact, they are. These companies want to serve you ads you might be interested in, and they want to build up a profile of who's going where.

Is that spyware? In a sense, perhaps. But it's just a tracking number on your computer. It doesn't do anything; it's not "ware." There are certainly privacy issues here, but not spyware ones.

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