mayayana said:
Why not just set the Options -> Privacy ->
cookie settings to "For the originating site only"
and "Until I close Firefox"? That way sites are
limited to using cookies only in the way they were
intended. Ad companies like Doubleclick can get
around "For the originating site only", if you don't
have those companies in your HOSTS file. That means
they can track your movements online, but they'll
still only be able to track you until you close the
session if you use the "Until I close Firefox" setting.
If you need a cookie to log into a website it's usually
because they have a primitive server-side setup and
need the cookie to track your movement between pages.
Without that the site won't work because the server
doesn't know you logged in on one page when you
load the next. So what would you fake in that case?
All the cookie is doing in that scenario is to send a
unique ID back and forth so that the server knows how
to set up the page you're viewing. You could maybe forge
the ID, but it doesn't matter. Either way it's a unique
text string that the server uses to track you between
pages. It's harmless as long as you don't keep permanent
cookies.
The problem cookies are the ones from Google, Doubleclick,
Microsoft and other large corporations, that stay permanently
on a PC, enabling those companies to track you and eventually
identify you. And if you have any relationship with such companies
- a gmail or hotmail account, say - you've sacrificed even more
privacy.
(Once the Google - Doubleclick deal goes through they
should be able to easily have large dossiers on, at the very least,
all gmail users. They can cross-reference the Doubleclick and
gmail cookies and then recognize those users at nearly every
site they visit.
Google recently made a big deal about saying that their cookies,
which were set to expire in 2038, will now expire 2 years after
your last Google visit. That was supposed to be a gesture in the
interest of privacy. Much of the online news media was very
cooperative with Google, posting that alleged "news flash" as
though it meant something. But it's really just an insidious lie. Anyone
who doesn't visit Google for 2 years is irrelevant to them...and
probably doesn't have a computer!)
How can they stay permanently on your computer if you have your computer
set up to delete all private every time when you start up your computer?
I use ccleaner to delete all my private information except windows logs
which I do not delete of course. I also have firefox setup so that it
does not save any private information like history and that it deletes
all private data after it closes.
I use to have firefox setup so that only allows cookies from the
originating site but now I have it setup so that it does not accept
cookies at all and I have the referer setup so that it does not send
private information and I also have setup a fake user-agent.
The reason why I have done this is because It was recommended to do so
at
http://www.pcflank.com and my computer has passed all the security
tests at pcflank and other port scanning websites like shields up and
hackerwach.org. but this makes me wonder because what ever I do it
always comes up as secure or stealth even if I open ports on my software
firewall and router hardware firewall I use a Linksys WRG54G Nat Rotuer
v.5 and comodo firewall. I think comcast is up to something because I
scanned my own public IP address with nmap and this is what comes up I
told me that my device type: firewall, running: WatchGuard embedded and
OS details: WatchGuard FireBox 700. I know that Comcast is under
conspiracy to interfere with internet traffic here is an article that
talks about it.
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2007/11/28
How do you test your firewalls if your behind a firewall from your isp?
I tried to use nmap and do my private ip but says that windows does not
support testing it's own system from localhost but I think windows can
test a private ip with another computer that is on the same local area
network but I only have one computer so I would have to go to college of
dupage to do that and do my laptop from there.
for my nat router's firewall I know I can test it will linux by using a
distro like back track which has all the tools I will ever need that I
can run from a cd instead of installing it on my hard drive.
I use gmail and I do not think that google can read my encryted pgp
messages.
Do you know of any good free pop mail sites that after strong ssl
encryption that can not be exported if possible like 500 bits to 1023 bits?
I have heard that Microsoft has a secret place for stashing all your
doing in a special place which is different from where your normal
private information is stored which can be delete by the user.
http://www.microsuck.com/content/ms-hidden-files.shtml