White House Web Site reads cookies you've acquired visiting OTHER sites...

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

The White House said Friday its Web site will keep using Internet tracking technologies, deciding that they aren't prohibited after all under 2003 federal privacy guidelines. The White House's site uses what's known as a Web bug -- a tiny graphic image that's virtually invisible -- to anonymously keep track of who's visiting and when. The bug is sent by a server maintained by an outside contractor, WebTrends Inc., and lets the traffic-analysis company know that another person has visited a specific page on the site.

Web bugs themselves are not prohibited. But under a directive from the White House's Office of Management and Budget, they are largely banned at government sites when linked to cookies, which are data files that let a site track Web visitors.

Cookies are not generated simply by visiting the White House site. Rather, WebTrends cookies are sometimes created when visiting other WebTrends clients. An analysis by security researcher Richard M. Smith shows such preexisting cookies have then been read when users visit the White House site.

The discovery and subsequent inquiries by The Associated Press prompted the White House to investigate. David Almacy, the White House's Internet director, said tests conducted since Thursday show that data from the cookie and the bug are not mixed -- and thus the 2003 guidelines weren't violated. Jason Palmer, vice president of products for Portland, Ore.-based WebTrends, said Web browsers are designed to scan preexisting cookies automatically, but he insisted the company doesn't use the information to track visitors to the White House site.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/tech/D8EQPR8G3.htm

[MichiganVote]

1. So what is the reason for the breakdown?

[Journeyman]

2. The data isn't analyzed, so it's just okey-dokey. . .

"Trust me. I'm a professional," he said with a toothy grin.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. It's the cyber version of tracking which library books you've read

I'd be willing to bet that most folks who are not Internet-savvy would WET THEMSELVES if they ever took a look at what's in their browser's cache and read their cookies.

It's ALL there.

Companies who use this data (and use keystroke logging programs) have all the ammo to need to fire your ass in a MINUTE for visiting "innocent" Web Sites while you're being paid to work.

Imagine what they (and the government) might do when you visit the "Bad Internets."

[Journeyman]

4. I'm probably more internet savvy than most & I'm sure I'd be surprised...

to learn how much can be learned about my habits and activities by people who never enter my home or get by my firewall.

[Ian David]

5. Check-out this post on a right-wing blog

http://tinyurl.com/b2gmg