« Andrew Meyer and the Tasering of Civility and Constitutionality | Main | GAO Asserts VA Is at Risk for Another Data Breach »
Symantec CEO Asserts that Cookies Invade Internet Users’ Privacy
By Privacy Maven | September 20, 2007
John Thompson, CEO of the security software company, Symantec Corp., is denouncing nondisclosed usage of Internet cookies:
During a visit to the EU in Brussels, John Thompson, chief executive of the security software company, said that cookies “are just as much an invasion of privacy as someone peering in my bedroom window”.”I don’t have an issue with people having cookies on their machine as long as I’ve been told one just got planted there,” Thompson said.
In fact any decent web browser will include an option to be alerted when a site attempts to set a cookie. But Thompson wants the onus moved from the web user to the website. “I think there is an opt-in option here that should be available to everyone.”
The technology known as Internet cookies has been commonplace, and perhaps not widely known or understood, whereby Internet sites deposit small files on a user’s computer which send back data to the sites which is used for a variety of functions, from improving website navigation to serving targeted advertising based upon the user’s surfing habits. Howstuffworks.com has a detailed primer on the subject of Internet cookies. Additionally, here is a video explaining Internet cookies and how they work:
Topics: Privacy and New Technology, Computer Privacy and Security |