Yahoo ***SNOOP ALERT***

[indigobusiness]

Turn off the "snooping" feature in Yahoo!

For your information ...
>> You can opt out
>>
>> Yahoo is now using something called "Web Beacons" to track Yahoo
>Group
>> users around the net and see what you're doing and where you are
>going
>> - similar to cookies. Yahoo is recording every website and every
>> group you visit.
>>
>> Take a look at their updated privacy statement:
> > http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy
>>
>> About half-way down the page, in the section on cookies, you will
>see
>> a link that says web beacons. Click on the phrase web beacons.
>> That will bring you to a paragraph entitled "Outside the Yahoo
>> Network."
>> In this section you'll see a little "click here to opt out" link
>that
>> will let you "opt-out" of their new method of snooping.
>>
>> Once you have clicked that link, you are exempted.
>>
>> Notice the "Success" message on the top of the next page.
>> Be careful because on that page there is a "Cancel Opt-out" button
>> that, if clicked, will *undo** the opt-out.
---

Thank you, Liberty Belle!

[Liberty Belle]

1. You're welcome!

I wonder if MSN or other online services have similar spy-type features we should opt out of. Does anyone know?

[indigobusiness]

3. I wonder about a lot of things, now...

Good point.

[Xipe Totec]

11. I'm Paranoid by Nature

But what really scares me is that I may not be paranoid enough.
:scared:

[indigobusiness]

22. LOL

That's classic. I'm going to write that down.

[seaofcrisis]

2. thanks for the warning

That is insane, and it should be illegal! I wonder if gmail does this too.

[indigobusiness]

10. I wonder, too???

You're welcome, to Liberty Belle's credit.

Please kick.

[atreides1]

4. Thanks

[shance]

5. Thank you for posting this.

More good information to pass on.

[annabanana]

6. thank you!!

sneaky s.o.b's
They make it pretty hard to find don't they?

[indigobusiness]

7. Help keep this kicked.

They sure do, the sneaky bastards. I thought Yahoo was better than that. What a disappointment!

[Goldom]

8. How do you think it stores this info?

It says specifically that it is per browser, not per user, so isn't stored in your Yahoo username info.. where do you think it's putting it? If clicking that opt-out link creates a cookie, it seems that I should actually make sure to -save- my Yahoo cookies, rather than delete them, in order to keep them from spying. On the other hand, if I do delete them, then they couldn't be in the first place? What should I do? Opt out then save all yahoo cookies, delete them all the time, or just make sure to re-opt-out every time i clean them?

[indigobusiness]

9. Was this included in the My Yahoo upgrade?

You ask compelling questions.

[LeftyMom]

33. It's not a cookie

I opted out a while ago and still show up as opted out even though I clean out by cookies all the time.

I have no clue how they track, but it's some other way.

[in_cog_ni_to]

12. Thanks!

:hi::kick:

[sherilocks]

13. Thank you, but I have a question

I used your opt out feature on Yahoo. After that I ran a spyware scan and there was one spyware found on my computer (usuallly there are 7) I deleted it. Did I removed the opt out feature when I did that?

[Liberty Belle]

14. No idea. But I'll kick it in hopes a tekkie will know.

[indigobusiness]

15. ***Look***

Yahoo! Affiliates
Yahoo! may allow certain Yahoo! affiliates to include web beacons within pages served by Yahoo!. These affiliates aggregate information about our advertising and provide auditing, research and reporting for our advertisers. Currently, Yahoo! allows web beacons from the following affiliate (click to visit their website):

Overture privacy link- corrected
http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/legal/privacy.jhtml

http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/adservers/details.html
---
The information collected by Overture and our third-party advertising companies through the use of these pixel tags is not personally identifiable. For more information about our third-party advertisers, including how to opt out of their targeting programs, please visit their web sites:

Doubleclick (opt-out),
http://www.privacychoices.org/optout.htm

Keylime Software (opt-out),
http://www.keylimesoftware.com/opt_choice.html

Commission Junction and Performics.
http://www.cj.com/
http://www.performics.com/

Opting Out of Ad Networks Using Cookies If you would like an ad network to not set or use cookies on your computer, you must visit each ad network's web site individually and opt out (if they offer this capability).

Currently, Yahoo! has relationships with the following ad networks (click to visit their site):


24/7 Real Media, Inc.
Advertising.com, Inc.
Atlas DMT, a division of Avenue A, Inc. (atdmt.com, avenuea.com)
Bluestreak, Inc.
Centrport
Cossette Media (adcentriconline.com)
DoubleClick, Inc.
Dynamic Logic (questionmarket.com)
eBoz, Inc. (linkbuddies.com)
EyeBlaster, Inc. (serving-sys.com)
EyeWonder, Inc. (xlontech.net)
FastClick.com, Inc. (adserver.com)
Interpolls Network, Inc.
Insight Express
Klipmart Corporation (kliptracker.com)
Mediaplex, Inc.
NexTag, Inc.
Pennyweb, Inc./Ad Dynamix
Performance Marketing Group
Planning Group International (bridgetrack.com)
Poindexter Systems (ru4.com)
PointRoll, Inc.
QuickFlicks, Inc. (rn11.com)
TruEffect, LLC (adlegend.com)
UniCast Communications (dmpi.net)
ValueClick, Inc.
Video Banner
Zedo, Inc.

[indigobusiness]

32. more opt out

links

[sherilocks]

27. Thanks Liberty Belle n/t

[RebelOne]

16. Opted out a while back.

Someone posted that on a Yahoo group list I subscribe to.

[indigobusiness]

17. Do you know if clearing cookies

means you have to opt-out again? Is there a cookie to keep to keep the opt-out in place?

[LeftyMom]

34. Nope

I opted out a while ago and still show up as opted out even though I've cleaned my cookies in between.

[indigobusiness]

36. Thanks

Mom

[Spike from MN]

18. Disable cookies in your browser

This should prevent the web beacon from tracking your activity. Here's what a google search for "web beacon" turned up:

Web Beacon

  Also called a Web bug or a pixel tag or a clear GIF. Used in 
  combination with cookies, a Web beacon is an often-transparent
  graphic image, usually no larger than 1 pixel x 1 pixel, that is
  placed on a   Web site or in an e-mail that is used to monitor the
  behavior of the   user visiting the Web site or sending the e-mail.
  When the HTML code for the Web beacon points to a site to retrieve
  the image, at the same time it can pass along information such as
  the IP address of the computer that retrieved the image, the time
  the Web beacon was viewed and for how long, the type of browser that
  retrieved the image and previously set cookie values.
  
  Web beacons are typically used by a third-party to monitor the 
  activity of a site. A Web beacon can be detected by viewing the
  source code of a Web page and looking for any IMG tags that load
  from a different server than the rest of the site. Turning off the
  browser's cookies will prevent Web beacons from tracking the user's      
  activity. The Web beacon will still account for an anonymous visit,
  but the user's unique information will not be recorded. 

Yet another reason to always have cookies disabled unless you need them (as when posting to DU).

[sherilocks]

26. There is a third option for cookies

that I use, prompt before allowing cookie. Some websites will not let you on without at least one cookie. It's amazing how many cookies and who is requesting the cookies and how long they are there for. You can request additional information on the cookie and I've seen them dated until 2020.

[Spike from MN]

30. Good point

I have done that on occasion just out of curiosity to see who wants what. As you pointed out, it's rather interesting to look at the cookie and see just what they're doing. But I have found that if I do much surfing, it can get annoying to get prompted for almost every page. I found it easier to just disable them and go ahead and enable them when needed.

[mom cat]

19. Thanks! One less spy in my life!......I hope.....

[AmerDem]

20. This will work even if your not logged in?

I would think you have to be logged in for something like this to take effect. Seems to me people who don't even have a yahoo account can click the opt out link with the same effect. Am I missing something here?

[Spike from MN]

21. It doesn't have anything to do with your account

but rather with whether or not your browser accepts cookies. I'm not sure what yahoo's "opt-out" option does exactly but, provided it's a legit opt-out and not just another tracking tool, according to their description it records your browser version (and most likely the IP and/or other info particular to your computer) and probably puts that info in a database. Then when you hit a yahoo page with a web beacon, the beacon could be programmed to check against the database and only snoop your computer if your browser and/or computer info aren't in the database. Of course this all assumes that yahoo is being on the up-and-up which is an assumption I never make with yahoo or most other sites for that matter. Present website excepted of course.

I haven't heard the term "web beacon" before but a few months back I read about web bugs and invisible GIFs being used for nefarious purposes. IIRC, they came to light when a transparent GIF was discovered that was being used to exploit a hole in MS Internet Explorer. I believe that particular exploit was due to a vulnerability in the browser itself and didn't have anything to do with cookies but all the same, you should ALWAYS disable cookies in your browser. The same goes for javascript and java and pretty much anything else that you don't need. Use them only when you absolutely have to and turn them off when you're done using them. Clean out your cookies and web cache regularly. And avoid using IE at all cost.

And if you really want to improve your computer security, just switch to Linux and be done with it. ;)

[indigobusiness]

23. It says it tracks you

wherever you go.

[AmerDem]

24. Thanks for the input

I use Mozilla and regualrly disable and inable cookies as needed. Thanks for your take on the other info.

[Spike from MN]

29. You're welcome.

Sounds like you're on the right track!

[superconnected]

25. crumb! they're going to figure out I'm on the DU

That and my little penchant for pro-ana sites. Oh, I'm doomed.

[bloom]

28. Thanks for posting this.

[indigobusiness]

31. Sure, but I wish more techies would weigh in

and sort out the mysteries.

[DemBones DemBones]

35. Thanks! I don't like to be spied on, not because I go anywhere "bad"

but because it's my business where I do, not Yahoo's, or anyone else's. The idea of people keeping track of what sites I visit is just like the idea of people keeping track of what books I read: creepy.

[indigobusiness]

37. Maybe bad to "them" is not bad to you.

It's not a good/bad guilt thing. It is a privacy issue. It involves an erosion of our rights.