----- Original Message -----
From: "Julian Aronowitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2000 1:15 AM
Subject: [voyager] Re: on-disk-cache
> I have to ask one "dumb" question: "Why in the world would you
> want to maintain ANY amount of cache, let alone to increase the amount
> of room the cache occupies?" That info is either placed on your compu-
> ter by those computers you have visited, on the Internet, or by V,
> itself, to aid in more easily connecting with other computers.
Only the browser itself has control over the memory or disk cache. Servers
have no say in what V or any browser puts in it's cache. The purpose of the
cache is to hold some of the less dynamic information so that pages load
quickly, as the data is not fetched each time the page loads. The "easily
connecting with other computers" part mentioned would have to be down to
TCP/IP stack and DNS servers, not any sort of browser function that I know
of.
> Many sites, instead of using their computers to keep track of your
> info, save all your info on your computer, and then expect to automa-
> tically read that info back, the next time you visit that site. That
This is a description of cookies, not cache.
> same info can be accessed by other skilled sites, who have no rights to
> that info. The only way to avoid this trespass is to delete the con-
> tents of your cache, from time to time. Of course, before you delete
> anything, make sure you have written the pertinent info on a piece of
> paper and file it someplace safe. That way, you can always give the
> site whatever info it need, by typing it in, if necessary.
While cookie information *might* be able to be accessed by a "skilled" site,
it would be very difficult for any site outside of the domain that actually
gave your browser the cookie in the first place. Even then, it is doubtfull
that the sort of information contained in these cookies would be of great
use to the site that "stole" them. (oh look, he uses a blue background,
with green borders) ;)
That said, it is probably wise to NOT use auto logon functions enabled by
cookies at any sites that might provide you or someone else with sensitive
information, like an online banking site, etc. I've yet to see any online
banking site use cookies or even allow logon information to be cached by a
browser for that matter.
The great majority of the time, cookies are used for two things. User prefs
at a site that provides custom page display. (my.yahoo.com, excite.com,
etc.) And online shopping sites that have a "shopping cart" type of setup.
In the latter case, the cookie only contains information about the items you
have purchased, and typically has a short expiration period.
> Now, all this is just MHO, based on numerous years working in the
> data processing field, writing about the field, and teaching about it.
> It is not meant as a negative criticism of you or anyone else.
Likewise, my post was meant to inform and not be critical. There is a ton
of misleading information about cookies out there, and some outright lies.
Much of it stems from paranoia grounded in lack of understanding.
Chris
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