James here, co-founder of
www.priceprotectr.com. As most of you know, we're big on consumer choice and transparency. Here's the latest about cookies.
As you may recall from an earlier post, a non-profit organization called the Network Advertising Initiative has a site that scans your computer for regular
cookies from the ad networks. You can also opt out of
cookies from 15 of the biggest online ad networks (including DoubleClick, Yahoo!, Blue Lithium, and 24/7). Check it out at
http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp.
Don't breathe that sigh of relief just yet. Here's a tidbit even many Intellinetsia don't know. Adobe released something called "
Flash cookies" in their most recent build. It allows a site with
flash to store up to 100kb of information on your computer (
cookies are only 1kb). The only way to know if you have one is to go to Adobe's site; as far as I can tell, current browsers do not have the capability of deleting flash cookies. After I ran the test, I discovered that my computer must have had 100
flash cookies. I deleted them all and denied further
flash cookies.
To check your computer for flash cookies, go to the Macromedia website here:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager06.htmlLabels: behavioral advertising, cookies, flash cookies, privacy
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posted by James @ 6:40 AM
: June 6, 2008 10:59 AM 
