I’m picking on Yahoo for now, but I am sure this kind of nonsense is widely used throughout the web and business world. Turns out if you have a Yahoo account they have infested your machine with a cookie-like file that they call a web beacon which tracks your web surfing while surfing on both Yahoo and non-Yahoo sites. Yahoo then sells this information to other companies (they say in aggregate with no ‘personal’ info, but I am not a trusting soul in these matters). There is an opt-out option, but it is good for only one browser on one computer. If you use multiple browsers and/or multiple computers you have to opt-out using each one.
Shouldn’t these kinds of things be opt-ins?? And one opt-out per user should be required. Of course if you really get worked up about this crap I guess your surfing days are about over . . .
Info about web beacons: http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/webbeacons/
Yahoo’s opt-out: http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/ ... tails.html
Shouldn’t these kinds of things be opt-ins?? And one opt-out per user should be required. Of course if you really get worked up about this crap I guess your surfing days are about over . . .
Info about web beacons: http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/webbeacons/
Yahoo’s opt-out: http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/ ... tails.html
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