Why “private” web browsing isn’t so private…they’re still tracking you!

Lots of people who use the web know about “cookies”.  They are the little pieces of data web sites put on your computer to “remember” who you are.  Lots of people shut them off or use “private” browsing methods but guess what, lots of sites (some say up to half) are still storing data on your computer and “remembering” lots of info about you!  Matter of fact, now they can remember a whole lot more then they could before using outdated “cookies” methods!

“Cookies” allow web sites to store a small amount of info (4 kb per cookie) into your web browser.  It’s how web sites are able to keep you logged in even after you leave, remember your “shopping cart” items, or greet you with a personalized “Welcome Back David” message.  Cookies were a wonderful invention and really allowed sites to customize a visitor’s experience. Cookies also allowed advertisers to “track” your online activities to deliver “better” advertising to you.  This is the problem with cookies, they allowed us to be “tracked” (for better or for worse), and in a time where “personal privacy” has become a household concept “tracking” is bad (m’kay).

As natural progression would have it web browsers began to build in features to control and remove cookies.  A good example is the “third party” cookie controls.  A third party cookie is where you visit “Site A” and it allows “Site B” (like an advertiser) to put a cookie on your computer.  Most web browsers allow you to disable these.  Next, virus scanners and other tools got the ability to search for and remove “tracking cookies.”  I’m sure we’ve all seen our virus scanner report a “tracking cookie” for some random advertiser.  Now lots of people clear their cookies, selectively delete them, or use programs that have come out to block them before they even get saved based on published “blacklists”.  Still, you may be fighting the wrong enemy!

Sites have been implementing a new way to track their users.  It seems they have noticed that the average Internet user has taken countermeasures to prevent being tracked with traditional cookies.  As a result companies went looking for a new technological solution.  They needed something that would allow them to save data on the user’s computer without letting them know and something that almost everyone had installed. Flash was the perfect solution.  Lot’s of people have flash installed to watch YouTube, make JibJab videos, or listen to streaming audio.  By default Flash lets a web site store info just like a cookie, matter of fact they call them “flash cookies”, and it even allows more data then traditional cookies so advertisers could store even more info about you.

The best part was most people didn’t know about flash cookies, they didn’t know how to clear them, and there weren’t a lot of programs out there to block or delete them selectivity.  I knew about “flash cookies”, but to be honest, I didn’t know that the use of “flash cookies” was so wide spread.  Some people estimate that over half of the most popular web sites have converted or are using “flash cookies” to track their users.  In addition, when you use your browsers “private” mode it doesn’t prevent sites from storing data about you into flash.

I’m sure as people begin to realize what is happening tools will emerge to clean and prevent flash cookies just as they did for browser cookies.  Until then however, here are some options. Here is a link to an eHow page on how to remove these cookies, http://www.ehow.com/how_4450318_delete-flash-program-cookies.html, and if you use FireFox, check out the “better privacy” add on.  Be careful though, both solutions can delete more then you want to so take some time to read the screens and understand what you are deleting.