Surfing Naked

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[Guest.Visitor]

Surfing Naked

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For those with more PC smarts than I have: if you use dial-up access -- which assigns a different IP address each time you go on the internet -- and delete cookies prior to each entry, can the sites still identify you as having previously acccessed the site?

[J.Klebanoff]

Surfing Naked

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wickedwoman said:

For those with more PC smarts than I have: if you use dial-up access -- which assigns a different IP address each time you go on the internet -- and delete cookies prior to each entry, can the sites still identify you as having previously acccessed the site?

I'm probably not someone who has any more PC smarts than you, but one thing that I did think of, you may have to delete more than just the cookies coming from the particular site you're visiting. If they run ads from an ad server network, the ad server may assign a cookie from it's site, not from the one you're visiting. If you don't delete that cookie as well they can track you. Other than that, in the scenario you paint, I don't see how they can track you, but someone much more knowledgeable and clever about such things than me will probably think of a way.

[J.Klebanoff]

Surfing Naked

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Actually, I did think of one more way they may be able to track you, that's if you have, probably without your knowledge, any spyware loaded on your machine. My understanding is that they usually arrive embedded in "free" software such as browser toolbars, screensavers, special cursors, etc. from less than fully reputable companies. The spyware can report back to its master anytime it finds a Web connection.

[Guest.Visitor]

Surfing Naked

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Well the spyware and viruses also come when you download porn. LOL. One of my collegue complained a couple of years ago that his office PC is dawg slow. A simple Ad-aware release 200 spywares! Yes spywares, not tracking cookies. I then ran virus scan and it detected the dialer malware attached to a porn he downloaded using limewire. Well he was lucky that he was not using dialup otherwise he would have been fighting his company for a long time to come.

[Guest.Visitor]

Surfing Naked

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Joel, This is a fine article. But, if I may, with your permission, I'd like to comment not on privacy but on your use of words. I can usually read your articles without referring to a dictionary. I had to do this twice in this article. Twice!! You're making me work too hard. Now, I have to decide if the payoff is worth it. What am I thinking? Of course the payoff is worth it. You're so witty, intelligent, and funny that... oh, forget it. Anyway, the words are tautology and taxonomy. With your suggestion that I work out more, I thought tautology was the science of obtaining those ubiquitous (there I go using my own big word) taught six-pack abs. They're all over the tv. If I only send lots of money, I too can be a master of tautology. Taxonomy is the one that really caught my attention. You see, not only am I highly respected and in-demand technologist (ya right!), I am also a tax man. Not like in the Beatle's song. I do people's taxes. So, I thought that taxonomy had something to do with my other profession. I hear it all of the time from my clients: "What do you mean I owe? I'm tired of having all of this tax-on-a-me." No, I don't do taxes in Little Italy or for the mob. Using the internet, I looked up the defintions and can now proudly say that I learned two new words today. Thanks for contributing to my continuing education. By the way, Joel, what is your article about today? Tom.

[J.Klebanoff]

Surfing Naked

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I thought tautology was the science of obtaining those ubiquitous (there I go using my own big word) taught six-pack abs. They're all over the tv. If I only send lots of money, I too can be a master of tautology.

Now you know why I no longer watch television. The comparison with my abs is too depressing. As I mentioned in one of my earlier tirades, "I think that there's a lot of money to be made by bringing back washboards. Because of all the innovative, new materials available today, washboards don't have to be built in the same way as in days of yore. Instead of a rigid, ribbed construction, I'd build them using a very loose, bulging, rubbery material, which would make it a lot easier for guys like me to develop washboard abs."

Thanks for contributing to my continuing education.

You're welcome. It's nice to know that I'm good for something.

By the way, Joel, what is your article about today?

How the hell should I know? I just write them. I don't actually read them. Who has time for that nonsense?

[Guest.Visitor]

Surfing Naked

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Who has time for that nonsense? Me, apparently. Is that sad, or what? Tom.