Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Harmon Seaver]

Has anyone noticed that when you go to this "opt-out" page and get
the doubleclick cookie set to optout, that three new cookies get set at
that moment? One for imigis.com, one for www.britannica.com, and another
for avenuea.com.
 So possibly the "opt-out" is just a scam, and they track under
another name, so you won't know to delete those cookies?

H.

Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Tom Vogt]

Harmon Seaver wrote:
> Has anyone noticed that when you go to this "opt-out" page and get
> the doubleclick cookie set to optout, that three new cookies get set at
> that moment? One for imigis.com, one for www.britannica.com, and another
> for avenuea.com.
>  So possibly the "opt-out" is just a scam, and they track under
> another name, so you won't know to delete those cookies?

possible. I noticed that imigis.com and avenuea.com get used on sites
that use
doubleclick, now that I put that into the DNS killfile. it looks up a
lot of
ad.doubleclick.net (rotates between that and the site I'm viewing very
quickly,
since both are in the dns cache), then turns to imigis.com

the interesting part is that even though the HTML source points to a
file on
doubleclick.net, there IS some image there. no hint of imigis.com
anywhere on
the whole page, even though I positively saw it being looked up
in the status line.

anyone knows what's going on here? just the usual paranoia, or is
doubleclick
really up to something?

Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Harmon Seaver]

Reese wrote:

> I didn't bother to check - I delete any and all cookies, at regular and
> frequent intervals,,,
>

I used to run a nightly cron job that deleted my cookies, but that
presents a different problem --  such as deleting the mp3.com cookies means
that I have to re-register every time I go there, which sometimes is daily.
Likewise deleting the amazon cookies means that the the partial orders in my
shopping cart disappear.  Neither is a big deal, I guess, but annoying.
 One other thing on the doubleclick optout page -- after you get your
cookie "fixed", it has a button that says "Close Window".  Clicking on this
starts a java applet on my machine which crashes Netscape -- anybody know what
this is about? Obviously, "close window" is a trojan something -- they don't
need to run an applet on my machine to close a window on their website.

Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Harmon Seaver]

   Yeah, I know how to do that. But it has the same problem that it does in
using grep to check your system logs every day -- it misses stuff you haven't
thought of.  Finding a way to defeat the doubleclicks would be better, if you could
keep up with all their various personas and nyms. But perhaps you're right,  maybe
it's too difficult to keep up with, and better to just kill all cookies except the
few known to have value.


Sunder wrote:

> So learn how to write shell scripts that use grep.  Grep for the shit you want
> to keep and write it to the new cookie file.

--
Harmon Seaver, MLIS Systems Librarian
Arrowhead Library SystemVirginia, MN
(218) 741-3840  [EMAIL PROTECTED]  http://harmon.arrowhead.lib.mn.us

Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Eric Murray]

On Mon, Feb 14, 2000 at 05:35:13AM -0600, Harmon Seaver wrote:
> Reese wrote:
> 
> > I didn't bother to check - I delete any and all cookies, at regular and
> > frequent intervals,,,
> >
> 
> I used to run a nightly cron job that deleted my cookies

Deleting your cookie files doesn't keep them from tracking
you in between deletions.  It just gives you a warm fuzzy.

>, but that
> presents a different problem --  such as deleting the mp3.com cookies means
> that I have to re-register every time I go there, which sometimes is daily.

Right.  There _IS_ a legitimate use of cookies.

> Likewise deleting the amazon cookies means that the the partial orders in my
> shopping cart disappear.  Neither is a big deal, I guess, but annoying.

Fortunately there are solutions to this problem- a number of people
have written programs that can be used to seletively accept cookies.
I wrote one, "Junkbuster" is another, and I'm sure that a 10 minute
web search would find more.  Mine and Junkbuster can also be
used to block ad URLs, which is pretty handy for just about any
web site these days-- saves on download time and you don't have
to ignore the spinning flaming logos.

www.lne.com/ericm/cookie_jar

>  One other thing on the doubleclick optout page -- after you get your
> cookie "fixed", it has a button that says "Close Window".  Clicking on this
> starts a java applet on my machine which crashes Netscape -- anybody know what
> this is about? Obviously, "close window" is a trojan something -- they don't
> need to run an applet on my machine to close a window on their website.

cookie_jar will selectively block stuff enclosed in 

Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Dag-Erling Smorgrav]

Harmon Seaver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Has anyone noticed that when you go to this "opt-out" page and get
> the doubleclick cookie set to optout, that three new cookies get set at
> that moment? One for imigis.com, one for www.britannica.com, and another
> for avenuea.com.
>  So possibly the "opt-out" is just a scam, and they track under
> another name, so you won't know to delete those cookies?

It seems you've uncovered their sinister plot for world domination.
The Encylopædia Britannica is nothing but a front for the military-
industrial complex's effort to regulate your life and suck your money
right out of your pocket. The black helicopters will be there shortly
to pick you up so you don't live to spread the tale.

(sheesh, I mean, I enjoy conspiracy theories as much as the next
illuminatus, but try to think before you write)

DES
-- 
Dag-Erling Smorgrav - [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Harmon Seaver]

  Yeah, right! I suggest you try playing with their page before you
scribble next. Delete your cookies, go to the opt-out page, and -- voila!
you have not only the new double-click w/opt-out, but you have 3 other new
cookies. 
   As far as I'm concerned, paranoia is a healthy survival trait -- even
so, I don't consider this to be even mild paranoia. I just want to know
what the fuck they are doing. Why do they set a Britannica cookie? or the
others? And why are they trying to run a java app on my machine with their
fake "close-window" button? 


Duh-duh Dag drooled:
> 
> It seems you've uncovered their sinister plot for world domination.
> The Encylopædia Britannica is nothing but a front for the military-
> industrial complex's effort to regulate your life and suck your money
> right out of your pocket. The black helicopters will be there shortly
> to pick you up so you don't live to spread the tale.
> 
> (sheesh, I mean, I enjoy conspiracy theories as much as the next
> illuminatus, but try to think before you write)
> 
> DES
> -- 
> Dag-Erling Smorgrav - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 

Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Tom Vogt]

Paul Holman wrote:
> 
> Here's a handy link to Opt-Out of DoubleClick:
> 
> 

it wants to set a cookie to opt me out???

I'd rather "opt-out" by adding them to ipchains.

Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Dag-Erling Smorgrav]

Tom Vogt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Paul Holman wrote:
> > 
> it wants to set a cookie to opt me out???

des@des ~% grep double .netscape/cookies 
.doubleclick.netTRUE/   FALSE   1920499170  id  OPT_OUT

DES
-- 
Dag-Erling Smorgrav - [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Andrew Brown]

>> Here's a handy link to Opt-Out of DoubleClick:
>> 
>> 
>
>it wants to set a cookie to opt me out???
>
>I'd rather "opt-out" by adding them to ipchains.

% grep doubleclick /etc/named.conf
zone "doubleclick.com" { type master; file "emptysoa"; };
zone "doubleclick.net" { type master; file "emptysoa"; };
% cat emptysoa
$TTL 0
@ SOA localhost. root.localhost. ( 1 1s 1s 7d 0s )
@ NS localhost.
% ping ads.doubleclick.net
ping: Cannot resolve "ads.doubleclick.net" (Unknown host)

so...what's the problem?  think of it like blocking spam.

-- 
|-< "CODE WARRIOR" >-|
[EMAIL PROTECTED] * "ah!  i see you have the internet
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Andrew Brown)that goes *ping*!"
[EMAIL PROTECTED]   * "information is power -- share the wealth."

Re: Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Sunder]

Harmon Seaver wrote:
> 
> I used to run a nightly cron job that deleted my cookies, but that
> presents a different problem --  such as deleting the mp3.com cookies means
> that I have to re-register every time I go there, which sometimes is daily.
> Likewise deleting the amazon cookies means that the the partial orders in my
> shopping cart disappear.  Neither is a big deal, I guess, but annoying.
>  One other thing on the doubleclick optout page -- after you get your
> cookie "fixed", it has a button that says "Close Window".  Clicking on this
> starts a java applet on my machine which crashes Netscape -- anybody know what
> this is about? Obviously, "close window" is a trojan something -- they don't
> need to run an applet on my machine to close a window on their website.

So learn how to write shell scripts that use grep.  Grep for the shit you want
to keep and write it to the new cookie file.


-- 
 Kaos Keraunos Kybernetos  
 + ^ +  Sunder  "Only someone completely distrustful of   /|\ 
  \|/   [EMAIL PROTECTED]all government would be opposed to what /\|/\ 
<--*-->  we are doing with surveillance cameras" \/|\/ 
  /|\   You're on the air.   -- NYC Police Commish H. Safir.  \|/ 
 + v +  Say 'Hi' to Echelon  "Privacy is an 'antisocial act'" - The FedZ.
 http://www.sunder.net ---
I love the smell of Malathion in the morning, it smells like brain cancer.

Re: Re: Opt-Out of DoubleClick

[Declan McCullagh]

This isn't all that difficult. If the attacks keep changing, so should the 
defenses. Follow CPAN's lead (cpan.org) and install a crontab daemon to 
fetch the latest anti-doubleclickware. Market it, and you're an instant dot 
com entrepreneur!

Oh, wait. Nobody really gives a damn. Never mind.

-Declan


At 15:59 2/14/2000 -0600, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>Yeah, I know how to do that. But it has the same problem that it 
> does in
>using grep to check your system logs every day -- it misses stuff you haven't
>thought of.  Finding a way to defeat the doubleclicks would be better, if 
>you could
>keep up with all their various personas and nyms. But perhaps you're 
>right,  maybe
>it's too difficult to keep up with, and better to just kill all cookies 
>except the
>few known to have value.
>
>
>Sunder wrote:
>
> > So learn how to write shell scripts that use grep.  Grep for the shit 
> you want
> > to keep and write it to the new cookie file.
>
>--
>Harmon Seaver, MLIS Systems Librarian
>Arrowhead Library SystemVirginia, MN
>(218) 741-3840  [EMAIL PROTECTED]  http://harmon.arrowhead.lib.mn.us
>
>