Comments on: Comments on 8251

Post number 8251

idiolect — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 11:58:45 -0800

Bugnosis A web bug detector to find out who's using single-pixel GIFs to relay information to third parties. Distributed by the folks at the Privacy Foundation.

I've long wanted to have this information without mucking through the HTML source. Now that it's available, I don't know if I really want to know.

By: dong_resin

dong_resin — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:04:36 -0800

You want to know.

By: preguicoso

preguicoso — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:23:42 -0800

I installed this a couple days ago. Verdict? Just about every corporate site uses web bugs.

By: bliss322

bliss322 — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:26:47 -0800

if you use bugnosis in conjunction with web washer, you find that web washer does a pretty good job of getting rid of bugs; although not all of them.

By: kindall

kindall — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:30:06 -0800

"Web bugs" are a privacy threat only as part of e-mail messages, and then only if they have a unique identifier embedded in their URL.

By: bliss322

bliss322 — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:33:06 -0800

kottke has bugs. big amazon bugs!

By: RylandDotNet

RylandDotNet — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 12:59:26 -0800

I assume "bugs" in this case means cookies. Cookies are easy to block. Web Washer has been mentioned; I personally use Junkbuster.

By: kindall

kindall — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 13:06:46 -0800

No, "bugs" does not mean "cookies." "Bugs" means, essentally, image files retrieved for a page from another site so that the other site knows who's hitting the first site. In HTML e-mail messages, the image request may identify the e-mail address that's reading the message, which is the only real privacy issue involved.

By: jragon

jragon — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 13:23:34 -0800

Sound the alarm. Doubleclick knows that I visited cnn.com. I'm outraged.

By: fooljay

fooljay — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 13:42:29 -0800

Yes, yes. That's it. Reduction to absurdity. Very well done, jragon... You should pat yourself on the back. There is no spoon...

By: Kino

Kino — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 14:12:59 -0800

Now doubleclick knows that you know that they know that you visited cnn.com. Oh shit, now i'm involved. They now know that i know that you know that they know that u did. Whatsmore, they know that i know that they know that, and that i've told you that i know that they do. We're done for.

By: RylandDotNet

RylandDotNet — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 15:08:14 -0800

No, "bugs" does not mean "cookies." "Bugs" means, essentally, image files retrieved for a page from another site so that the other site knows who's hitting the first site. Ah, I see. Well... A) Big deal. B) Junkbuster will still block it. I have it set to completely block traffic from lots of marketing sites, including Doubleclick. In HTML e-mail messages, the image request may identify the e-mail address that's reading the message, which is the only real privacy issue involved. Good thing I use a non-HTML e-mail client. I know, this means I won't be able to send and receive e-mail using a 14pt purple Star Trek font, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to secure my computer system from those naughty spies.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 16:01:59 -0800

For those who use IE- like me- there's also the Web Accessories plug-in, which adds some neat right-click functionality, including the Images List option (so you can see the 1x1 gifs). Not that it alerts you the way Bugnosis apparently does, of course...

By: machaus

machaus — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 16:40:49 -0800

Mac Huggers need not apply...

By: crunchland

crunchland — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 16:55:23 -0800

I tried this program. What a pain in the ass it is! Since there doesn't seem to be any way to filter which pages set off alarms and which ones don't -- which ones have acceptable, innocuous "bugs" and all others -- I uninstalled it about 30 minutes after I installed it.

By: christina

christina — Tue, 12 Jun 2001 17:31:21 -0800

Can you use webwasher with DSL? I miss missing pop-up ads... today the NYT launched a pop-up, albeit behind their site (very weird, and vaguely resembling politeness...)

By: fooljay

fooljay — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 00:34:53 -0800

In short: all your surfing are belong to marketing people.