"Netscape is using SmartDownload to eavesdrop,"
July 6, 2000 12:24 PM Subscribe
"Netscape is using SmartDownload to eavesdrop," I thought Microsoft was the ONLY evil!
It's true, they DO have a near-monopoly. But the Justice Department of Hell is working on that.
posted by dhartung at 2:52 PM on July 6, 2000
posted by dhartung at 2:52 PM on July 6, 2000
I tried posting this once before and it seems to have vanished. (that's happened a couple of times.)
It isn't the "smart download" feature that they're using, it's the "what's related" feature. When that's enabled, your browser reports to a special Netscape address every time you make a page change, telling it where you are and where you're going. What they're doing is building for each possible address a list of all the places people go next, and when you ask "What's Related?" for a given web site, you get told the most common sites that other people went to after being at that one.
It is, of course, a major violation of privacy and it's the very first thing I turn off whenever I install Netscape.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 4:12 PM on July 6, 2000
It isn't the "smart download" feature that they're using, it's the "what's related" feature. When that's enabled, your browser reports to a special Netscape address every time you make a page change, telling it where you are and where you're going. What they're doing is building for each possible address a list of all the places people go next, and when you ask "What's Related?" for a given web site, you get told the most common sites that other people went to after being at that one.
It is, of course, a major violation of privacy and it's the very first thing I turn off whenever I install Netscape.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 4:12 PM on July 6, 2000
meetoo
This was mentioned in the RISKS Digest (A moderated forum on risks to the public in computers and related systems) at *least* a year ago, if not more.
If this isn't on your reading list (issues go out about bi-weekly, usually; it's also available as news:comp.risks), it should be.
posted by baylink at 3:58 PM on July 7, 2000
GRRR.
Matt? You didn't fix the pseudo-tag munching yet.
That should have read:
<AOL>
meetoo.
</AOL>
...
posted by baylink at 3:59 PM on July 7, 2000
Matt? You didn't fix the pseudo-tag munching yet.
That should have read:
<AOL>
meetoo.
</AOL>
...
posted by baylink at 3:59 PM on July 7, 2000
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posted by dogwelder at 2:21 PM on July 6, 2000