visit NSA website - get a cookie

[donsu]

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1451544&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

NSA Web Site Plants 'Cookies' on Computers
Despite Federal Ban, NSA Web Site Plants 'Cookies' on Visitors' Computers to Track Web Surfing


The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them.

These files, known as "cookies," disappeared after a privacy activist complained and The Associated Press made inquiries this week, and agency officials acknowledged Wednesday they had made a mistake. Nonetheless, the issue raises questions about privacy at a spy agency already on the defensive amid reports of a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States.

"Considering the surveillance power the NSA has, cookies are not exactly a major concern," said Ari Schwartz, associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "But it does show a general lack of understanding about privacy rules when they are not even following the government's very basic rules for Web privacy."

Until Tuesday, the NSA site created two cookie files that do not expire until 2035 likely beyond the life of any computer in use today.
-snip-
----------------------------------------

NSA understands privacy rules, they just do whatever the bushgang tells them to do.

[LeftNYC]

1. mmmmmmm cookies...

treasonous bastards.

[Debau2005]

2. Most sites leave cookies...

You have a cookie from DU, it keeps you from having sign in with each visit. You can turn cookies off in your browser settings. Also cookies are only good if you re-visit the site, If you never visit the site again, then they are of no use to the NSA.

Cookie information:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/cookie.htm

[donsu]

3. the point is that they didn't have the right to leave that cookie

another case of the bushgang ignoring the law

[AZBlue]

5. Unfortunately I don't think cookies are illegal

I'm no lawyer and I tried to google an answer but can only find European laws - if someone knows where to find info on US, I'd love to see it, especially if they are illegal.

I thought that in the US it's legal because you have the option to set your computer settings to not accept cookies.

[Debau2005]

6. Almost every site leaves cookies!

Not defending the NSA or the current administration, but if it is illegal for them, then it is illegal for DU, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. If you don't want cookies on your PC, turn them off with browser properties or don't surf the net.

I happen to appreciate them, if you don't use cookies, you will have to sign in to DU everytime you want to post. Cookies make it so that DU remembers you, so you don't have to sign in everytime you come here.

[AZBlue]

4. Great Link! You can also delete cookies anytime -

Just go to Internet Tools and then Internet Options - there's a button under temporary files to delete all cookies.

[kay1864]

7. This ABC article is BS

...as was the NPR piece I heard this morning. To wit:

"files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity"

WTF, I thought? That doesn't sound like the cookies I know.

And it isn't. I went to the explanation that Debau2005 provided (thanks!) and here's the reality:

"A Web site can retrieve only the information that it has placed on your machine (a text file). It cannot retrieve information from other cookie files, nor any other information from your machine". (emphasis mine)

So all the NSA cookie can do is track when you've visited the NSA website. Not your "web surfing activity".

Sheesh.

[donsu]

8. "that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules

banning most of them"


what is it with you posters? they broke the law!

[AZBlue]

9. Does anyone have a link to this law?

'Cause I looked for it and can't find it anywhere.

[Debau2005]

12. I have searched

and I can't find any law either.

If anyone finds the law please post it.


For anyone that wants to stop cookies, here are instructions for IE.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3ben-us%3b283185

Just remember, if you delete and block your cookies, you will not be able to post to DU or any other site without signing in first, so have your username and passwords handy.

[Hyernel]

10. I wrap my modem in tin foil just in case...

...okay, not really. :tinfoilhat:

[AZBlue]

11. The cookies aren't illegal - it was the length of their duration. Read on

Until Tuesday, the NSA site created two cookie files that do not expire until 2035 likely beyond the life of any computer in use today.

Don Weber, an NSA spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday that the cookie use resulted from a recent software upgrade. Normally, the site uses temporary, permissible cookies that are automatically deleted when users close their Web browsers, he said, but the software in use shipped with persistent cookies already on.

"After being tipped to the issue, we immediately disabled the cookies," he said.

Cookies are widely used at commercial Web sites and can make Internet browsing more convenient by letting sites remember user preferences. For instance, visitors would not have to repeatedly enter passwords at sites that require them.

But privacy advocates complain that cookies can also track Web surfing, even if no personal information is actually collected.

In a 2003 memo, the White House's Office of Management and Budget prohibits federal agencies from using persistent cookies those that aren't automatically deleted right away unless there is a "compelling need."

And even the long-term cookie isn't illegal, it's against policy.