OK. Need Techs To Explain Possible Tracking Of DU Log In

[Zorra]

(Please forgive my lack of technical understanding and language in my descriptions.)

Here's the deal. I have been researching a certain phenomenon that occurs when I visit DU. There are certain data mining cookies that are placed into my computer when I log onto some websites. If I visit these websites before I visit DU, and get their cookie, I will get a pseudo "pop-up" that will not register as a pop-up, but will appear in the bar at the bottom of my screen horizontally to the right of where the "Start" button is when I visit DU. In order to close this pseudo "pop-up", I have to right click my mouse on the pseudo "pop-up" and click on "close" to make it go away.

These pseudo "pop-ups" only appear if I do not clean my computer with ad-aware prior to visiting DU.

I believe that these cookies are specifically designed to track my visits to DU. These pseudo "pop-ups" do not appear when I visit any other website. They only appear when I visit DU.

I have three different different "cleansing systems" on my machine: Spybot, Spyware Blaster, and Ad-Aware. My machine is immunized.

My question is: Are these cookies specifically designed to track my activity when I visit DU?

Does anyone else experience this phenomenon?

Here are the data mining cookies that I recently blasted after I got the pseudo pop-up when I visited DU:

C:\windows\cookies\me@maxserving<1>txt.

C\windows\cookies\me@0<1>.txt

Can we bust these data miners somehow?

Are they tracking my visits to DU?

What can I do to prevent this from occurring?

If I am not clear in my questions and explanations, please let me know.

Thanks!

Note: The number 1 in the cookie description appears in brackets [] and not in<> but after I posted, this is how they appeared on my screen.

[Wonk]

1. I think...

the DU homepage http://www.democraticunderground.com/ is designed to show visitors one pop-up ad per day, and keeps track of whether you've seen one today yet or not with a cookie.

Anyway, I think I remember reading that down in ATA about a year ago. Safari blocks all unwanted popups though so I don't see them anyway.

Maybe you should ask this down in ATA.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=120

[nickgutierrez]

2. DISCLAIMER: I'm not particularly tech-inclined

Have you tried using different browsers? Maybe that would help.