The administration has announced plans to lift a
government ban on tracking visitors to government websites, and
potentially, collect their personal data through the use of "cookies" –
an effort some suspect may already be in place on White House sites. Read Story. This website will keep you informed of any new developments in the government's efforts to track your web use, including any good reasons for the government to do so (so far, we have found no compelling, reasonable arguments to support the government's web-use tracking). How to delete cookies We have included instructions on how to find and selectively delete "cookies" from your computer (this is different for the each browser, e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc.). We strongly suggest that you look at each cookie (following the instructions at this web site (click here) ) and only delete the cookies you don't want. If you don't know which website a cookie is for, note that the name of the cookie is the address of the website. Just visit the website to see what it is (note that you have already visited the website in the past - that's why the cookie is on your system). You will probably want to keep cookies for sites that you log into or use regularly, like you bank, credit cards, shopping sites, etc. Some sites require that you use cookies to work properly. Government sites should not require cookies. How to control which cookies you allow on your computer All recent versions of popular browsers give users a level of control over cookies. Users can set their browsers to accept or reject all, or certain, cookies. Users can also set their browsers to prompt them each time a cookie is offered. Click here for instructions on how to control cookies. What is a cookie? This is from the Wikipedia website (as of August 17, 2009): In computing, a cookie (also tracking cookie, browser cookie, and HTTP cookie) is a small piece of text stored on a user's computer by a web browser. A cookie consists of one or more name-value pairs containing bits of information such as user preferences, shopping cart contents, the identifier for a server-based session, or other data used by websites. It is sent as an HTTP header by a web server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server. A cookie can be used for authenticating, session tracking (state maintenance), and remembering specific information about users, such as site preferences or the contents of their electronic shopping carts. The term "cookie" is derived from "magic cookie", a well-known concept in UNIX computing which inspired both the idea and the name of browser cookies. Some alternatives to cookies exist; each has its own uses, advantages, and drawbacks. Being simple pieces of text, cookies are not executable. They are neither spyware or viruses, although cookies from certain sites are detected by many anti-spyware products because they can allow users to be tracked when they visit various sites. Most modern browsers allow users to decide whether to accept cookies, and the time frame to keep them, but rejecting cookies makes some websites unusable. For example, shopping carts or login systems implemented using cookies do not work if cookies are disabled. |
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