Transcript INTERNET PRIVACY

INTERNET PRIVACY
Marketing companies www.doubleclick.net
The cookie leak security hole in the HTML Email messages
The Web Bug
Can we trust the privacy policies of Web sites
Web police
Some tips to eliminate the fears of web security
References
www.doubleclick.net
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Double click is a banner ad company, it provides it’s address so
when any one click on that address most of the information
about that person will be transferred from the user computer to
the DoubleClick server. These information can be any thing like:
personal identifiable information or transactional data.
Personal data like: Email address
Full name
Mailing address
Phone number
Transactional data like: Names of movies a user searches for
Detail of a plane trip
Health conditions
The cookie leak security hole in Html
Email messages
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A cookie is a small text file that a website can place on the
computer’s hard drive in order for example to collect information
about the user activities on the site or to make possible for the
user to use online “shopping cart”.
The cookie transmits this information back to the Web site’s
computer.
The Web Bug
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Web Bug is a graphic on a Web page or in an Email message that is
designed to monitor who is reading the Web page or the Email
message.
Web Bugs are invisible because they are very small in size, they are
only 1x1 pixel.
They are represented As HTML IMG tags.
When a Web Bug is viewed these information will be sent to a server:
The IP address of the computer that fetched the Bug
The URL of the page that the Bug is located on
The URL of the Bug image
The time the Bug was viewed
The type of browser that fetched the Bug
A previously set cookie value
CONT.
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Here are two examples of a web bug
<img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/pixel.quicken/NEW"
width=1 height=1 border=0>
<IMG WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1 border=0
SRC="http://media.preferences.com/ping?ML_SD=IntuitTE_Int
uit_1x1_RunOfSite_A
ny&db_afcr=4B31-C2FB10E2C&event=reghome&group=register&time=1999.10.27.20.5
6.37">
Can we trust the privacy
policies of Web sites?
Most of the web site providers give assurances that they will never
share or give any information about their customers. But most of the
time these companies can’t keep up with their promises.
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One example is InfoBeat, a news letter published by Sony Music. In
InfoBeat privacy policy, they promised to never to give out a
subscriber’s Email address:
http://www.infobeat.com/static/cgi/static_merc.cgi?page=integrity.html&
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( We will NEVER release, sell or give a subscriber's name
or e-mail address to any other party or organization, without
the subscriber's explicit permission). I think the people at the InfoBeat
were at some sense honest, but what they forget about was the
banner ads companies that appear in the newsletter. And we know
from previous examples what these companies will do to get the
information they want.
Web police
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It is an international organization dedicated to protecting and
serving the users of the Internet community. It has 61 agencies
world wide.
It provides services such as: investigation, tracking, recording,
prosecution, termination of the criminal activities on the
Internet.
The organization has a database that contains records of every
criminal reported since 1986. These records help the
organization to develop new procedures to prevent future
Internet crimes.
Some tips to eliminate the
fears of Web security
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Encrypt your Emial; there is a software that allows you to
convert your file into a secret code that looks like random
garbage.
Get a free e-mail account, and use that e-mail address, because
it is easier to cancel and/or change that e-mail than your real
one.
Caution your kids never to give away addresses, last names or
phone numbers.
Use undercover shoppers like ( Public Eye ) to investigate
websites
Use an uneasy guess password.
References
Web programming/ Internet privacy
(http://www.tiac.net/users/smiths/privacy/banads.htm)
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Web programming/ Internet privacy/cookie
(http://www.tiac.net/users/smiths/privacy/cookleak.htm)
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International web police an agency of interGOV
(http://www.web-police.org/)
 Your guide to the best of the web
(http://www.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9711/netstoppers1.html)
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Web bug FAQ
(http://www.tiac.net/users/smiths/privacy/wbfaq.htm)