I've been interested in the discussion concerning cookies, so I did a little experimenting. First, disabling the "Cookies stored on your computer" (the evil cookies) does not delete the cookies that were created prior to that point. I did that (I think) by deleting the files in c:\windows\cookies. There is an index.dat file in that directory which I could not delete (some application apparently had it open). I restarted in DOS and looked at the file with Edit. It appears to be a database of the cookies on the computer. In DOS I could delete it and did. When I restarted Windows and IE, the index.dat file was recreated. I think the help file in IE may be a little misleading. One of the things it says about cookies is "only the site that created the cookie can read it." However, if you delete all your cookies and then enable the presistent cookies, you will find that Ancestry.com creates more than one cookie. In my case, it created four. One had the Ancestry name on it. One had "double-click", which as Jason pointed out, is a company that tracks web surfing. Another was for an advertiser whose banner was displayed. Another I couldn't trace. What I was wondering about was if I clicked on the banner and went to the advertiser's web site, could that advertiser open the cookie Ancestry created? It doesn't really matter. If Ancestry harvests the data from the cookies, Ancestry can then supply that data to anyone who pays for it. If a site harvests the data from its cookies as you surf, disabling the evil cookies does not stop the harvesting. Stopping the good cookies would stop that kind of activity, but you can't sign on to Ancestry's site with all cookies disabled. Which means to me that the data is worth more to them than the membership fees. I disagree with Jason's assumption that the data would necessarily be used to the users' disadvantage. Perhaps noting interest in the Civil War records would prompt Ancestry to add more Civil War records in order to attract more users. There is another down side to disabling the persistent/evil cookies. Some preferences that you set on some websites are kept in those cookies. For example, I like to listen to radio stations over the internet. On the WindowsMedia.com radio tuner, you can set your favorites to go back to them easily. My favorites are now gone because I killed the cookies. I think because we access the internet from our homes, or the privacy of our cubicles, the internet can appear to be a private space. But it isn't. It is more like the department store that Jason describes. It is a _very_ public place. I think anyone who ventures onto the internet should expect to be observed. Technology makes it too easy. And if you spend too much time browsing the women's lingerie section, someone will take note of it. Also, businesses have been collecting and exchanging data about us for a long time. That didn't start with the internet. (Using Ancestry as an example in this message does not mean I think they use this technology more or less than any other website on the internet.) On balance, I guess I will turn all the cookies back on. That doesn't mean I won't delete them on occasion (perhaps not deleting my radio tuner one). Jim Gill ----- Original Message ----- From: Tracy Jackson <tracypj@jps.net> To: <RootsWeb-Help-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2001 4:34 PM Subject: Cookies - Ancestry.com > I thought I'd try to clear up the cookie situation with Ancestry.com that > Jason referred to in his message yesterday. A copy of his message is at the > end of this one. > > Actually there are two types of cookies - "good" and "evil" cookies. > > I have used ancestry.com for the last 6 months with "good" cookies enabled, > and the "evil" cookies disabled, with no problems. I recommend this > approach. > > See below for more details. > > Hope this helps. > Tracy Jackson > > ============================================== > > The "good" cookies are "per session - not stored" which are stored only for > the current session. They go away when you stop your browser. These > cookies are typically used to keep track of what you are doing in a web site > and actually help you. > > The "evil" cookies are "stored on your computer" which last until the > expiration date of the cookie itself, typically a couple of years. The > cookies in themselves are not bad, but companies such as double-click use > this type of cookies to track your surfing habits so they can target ads for > you. That tracking usage is what makes them evil. > > In Internet Explorer 5.5, you can enable the good cookies and disable the > evilcookies. > Here's How: > Open your Internet Explorer browser. > From the menu bar, select Tools > Internet Options > Security > Click the Custom Level button. > Scroll down to the "Cookies" section. > In the "Cookies" section, there are two items you can set. > In the "Cookies stored on your computer" item, choose Disable. These are the > evil cookies. > In the "Allow per-session cookies (not stored)" item, choose Enable. These > are the good cookies. > Click OK. > Click OK to close the Internet Options window. > > I based these instructions on the instructions in the following web page: > http://websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/library/howto/ht_cookiesie.htm > > As far as I know, Netscape and earlier versions of IE will only allow you to > disable all cookies, without distinction between the good and evil ones. > > For more info on cookies, see: > http://www.websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/library/weekly/aa032100a.h > tm > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jason M. Canon" <fiatlux@va.prestige.net> > To: <RootsWeb-Help-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2001 9:12 AM > Subject: Re: Genealogy Forms > > > > Until recently I was a happy subscriber to ancestry.com. However, I > turned of > > the capability for Internet web servers to place activity monitoring > cookies on > > my machine and was not able to login as a subscriber without having the > activity > > monitoring cookies turned on. I phoned them and asked if there was any > way to > > use their service without having my Internet activities monitored and was > told > > no. > > Since I consider it an invasion of my privacy for a company to instruct my > > computer to log my Internet activities and have the data ready for reading > > whenever I log into ancestry, regretfully I asked them to terminate my > > subscription. > > > > So my advise, if you are a subscriber, it to beware that when you login > they > > have the ability to read from your computer everything you do on the > Internet. > > Why would they do this? When you login they can match your name, address, > and > > other information with the data they collect about your Internet > activities. > > This information is quite valuable and so long as the majority of people > don't > > understand what they are doing the "spying" is a very good source of > money. > > Every marketers in the country is willing to buy such information. > > > > If you don't believe what I'm saying turn off cookies on your browser and > try to > > login. Their server will tell you that you must have cookies enabled in > order > > to login. "Big Brother" turned out to be corporate America. > > > > Cheers, > > Jason > > > > Linda Simmons wrote: > > > > > Ancestry.com also has genealogy forms available. > > > > > > http://www.ancestry.com/save/charts/ancchart.htm > > > > > > I thought they had census forms too, but can't seem to locate them at > the > > > moment. > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: "Linda Hughes" <linhughes@home.com> > > > To: <RootsWeb-Help-L@rootsweb.com> > > > Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 7:00 AM > > > Subject: Re: Genealogy Forms > > > > > > > http://www.ancestrycorner.com/forms.htm > > > > > > > > is where this site has moved to. > > > > Linda Hughes > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > > From: "Sandy Redmond" <slredmond@earthlink.net> > > > > To: <RootsWeb-Help-L@rootsweb.com> > > > > Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 7:33 AM > > > > Subject: Genealogy Forms > > > > > > > > > > > > > Does anyone know of a good web site where you can print off basic > > > > > genealogy forms such as group sheets, ancestor charts, census > abstracts, > > > > > etc? > > > > > > > > > > The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy references > > > > > www.genrecords.com by Genealogy Records Service and gives examples > of > > > > > all the wonderful forms available. HOWEVER! You guessed it - the > URL > > > > > is no longer valid. Any ideas? > > > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > Sandy > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ============================== > > > > > Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the > #1 > > > > > Source for Family History Online. Go to: > > > > > > http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ============================== > > > Create a FREE family website at MyFamily.com! > > > http://www.myfamily.com/banner.asp?ID=RWLIST2 > > > > > > ============================== > > Visit Ancestry's Library - The best collection of family history > > learning and how-to articles on the Internet. > > http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library > > > > > > > ============================== > Search more than 150 million free records at RootsWeb! > http://searches.rootsweb.com/ _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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