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Non-Tech : Internet Rhetoric -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ~digs who wrote (65)	8/23/2004 9:46:15 PM
From: ~digs	Respond to of 73

------ Worms, Cookies, and Subpoenas ------ I didn't used to concern myself with computer security, and then last fall, I got the 'blaster' worm. It took several days and a good-sized headache, but I ultimately discovered that I needed to download a security update from Microsoft. Not long afterward, I forgot about the need to protect myself and went about my business. Then, earlier this year, I got hit with the 'sasser' worm. My computer slowed to a crawl and seemed to take on a mind of its own. Eventually, I figured out that Mircosoft had yet another security patch available for download. After installing their fix, my computer was once again running at full capacity. This time however, I decided to do some investigating. Soon I learned that in order to prevent future disturbances, I needed to set up a firewall. I also found out that I wasn't receiving Microsoft's updates automatically, and thus made the necessary changes to begin doing so. Next, I came to learn about Spyware. I downloaded a scanning device and subsequently detected over 100 malicious files on my hard drive. As Sara recently pointed out, the Pew Internet Report indicated in 2001 that only 10% of web users block cookies. I used to be within that group, but my browser preferences are now set such that I block all third-party cookies, while accepting first-party cookies. 3rd-party cookies are the type that monitor your surfing habits throughout the net. These are the ones to avoid. Companies like Doubleclick install them on your hard drive so that they can target you with banner ads that are supposed to be relevant to your particular interests. These cookies are far more invasive than their more useful counterpart. 1st-party cookies are used to identify your computer when you return to a previously visited website. Ebay, for instance, uses 1st-party cookies to keep you from having to login with each successive visit to their site. Yahoo! does the same thing. Amazon does too, but they go a bit further by archiving the pages you visited so that they can later offer similar titles that might be of interest to you. If for no better reason other than convenience, in my opinion these are legitimate reasons for having a cookie installed on your computer. (exception: if the computer in question is being used by many other people, than it is probably best to block all cookies, so that websites don't mistakenly grant access to the wrong visitor.) One thing that I was unaware of prior to the readings for this week was section 512(h) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Any person who alleges to have had their copyright violated can obtain a subpoena to get a user's personal information from their Internet service provider? And that person doesn't even have to prove that they even own a copyright? Yikes. Sounds like a rather large loophole...