Bad News About Privacy on Yahoo
Posted:
Apr 10, 2002, 10:11 PM
Things seem to be getting worse and worse in Yahoo Land. Aside from the spam lists, glut of advertising and sluggish servers, now Yahoo seems to be tracking your use of the Web with tiny, 1x1 pixels called Web Beacons and using the information to build a database.
They give you the option of opting out of this feature but, apparently, Yahoo isn't the only one doing this sort of thing. If you have a browser that can filter out images by size, you might want to start using it.
This message was originally posted at Yahoo's pente group.
Re: [Pente] Bad News About Privacy on Yahoo
Posted:
Apr 10, 2002, 10:29 PM
> > From: notphil.rm <no_reply@yahoogroups.com> > Date: 2002/04/10 Wed PM 12:11:20 EDT > To: pente2@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [Pente] Bad News About Privacy on Yahoo > > > Things seem to be getting worse and worse in Yahoo Land. Aside > from the spam lists, glut of advertising and sluggish servers, > now Yahoo seems to be tracking your use of the Web with tiny, > 1x1 pixels called Web Beacons and using the information to > build a database. > > No, I'm not joking ... > > http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/pixels/details.html > > They give you the option of opting out of this feature > but, apparently, Yahoo isn't the only one doing this sort > of thing. If you have a browser that can filter out images > by size, you might want to start using it.
I'd like to know precisely how they can use these so-called web beacons to track usage outside of Yahoo!'s domains (other than having them inserted into other people's web pages, that is).
The statement makes it sound like any site can access any cookie from any other site at any time, just through the use of these beacons. That's now how I understand cookie technology to work.
This message was originally posted at Yahoo's pente group.
Re: Bad News About Privacy on Yahoo
Posted:
Apr 11, 2002, 12:08 AM
The privacy is dead!!!
This kind of practice you cannot avoid. You can try to block cookies. I do so. I usually block by default any kind of third part cookies. But it is impossible to navigate if you do not allow first- part cookies and session cookies. Without them you would no be able to use sites like IYT.
This kind of approach (beacons) are very original and very difficult to block.
The artcle suggests the you could filter out small gifs. But, I usually use small gifs to help on the page design. Would you filter them too?
There is a interesting book on this subject:
Database Nation : The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century by Simson Garfinkel, Deborah Russell
André
--- In pente2@y..., notphil.rm <no_reply@y...> wrote: > > Things seem to be getting worse and worse in Yahoo Land. Aside > from the spam lists, glut of advertising and sluggish servers, > now Yahoo seems to be tracking your use of the Web with tiny, > 1x1 pixels called Web Beacons and using the information to > build a database. > > No, I'm not joking ... > > http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/pixels/details.html > > They give you the option of opting out of this feature > but, apparently, Yahoo isn't the only one doing this sort > of thing. If you have a browser that can filter out images > by size, you might want to start using it.
This message was originally posted at Yahoo's pente group.
Re: [Pente] DSG Tournament
Posted:
Apr 11, 2002, 4:46 AM
>I don't agree with the seeding of the tournament. If your ranked #12 Why enter if your guaranteed to go up against #1 player your very 1st game.
That is why only the top portion is seeded by rating. If there were 12 players only the top four would be seeded by rating and the rest would be seeded randomly. That way if you are #12 out of 12, you only have 1/8 chance of being paired with #1. This system is similar to some tennis and chess tournaments.
>I think Pente should always be FUN & Challenging...we shouldn't punish those who are just beginning now.
The challenge in designing a tournament is making one that is fair and challenging to top players while still fun for beginning and intermediate players. I believe the new seeding is more fair for top players (so # 4 doesn't unluckily get eliminated in 2 rounds by #1 then #2) but I do not think it will discourage anyone else.
-Mark
This message was originally posted at Yahoo's pente group.
