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 > >

If you are using Norton's Systemworks, they have "Clean Sweep". Use it on daily basis. They will wipe out the bad cookies along with cluttered Internet visited sites' url addresses. It is a quick step. David Tracy Jackson wrote: > > 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/

Respectfully to all: The computer terminology for cookie types is: (1) persistent (2) non-persistent. There is no such thing as good or evil cookies. A persistent cookie can remain on your machine's hard disk collecting information for many years. A non-persistent cookie indeed of session length only. There is nothing wrong with anyone that wants to accept either persistent or non-persistent cookies. My objection about Ancestry is that they force their paid subscribers to allow their computers to be spied upon. For me it does not matter if you spy on me for 5 minutes or 5 years - the principal that Ancestry has invaded my privacy - big brother - holds true. What is especially in bad taste from my perspective is that they would spy on their own customers. When I say it does not matter if they spy on me for 5 minutes or 5 years here is my concern. When I walk into a department store they have every right to observe my activities via cameras or store detectives. That is proper to protect the store's interest and it does not invade my privacy because I do not have to identify myself at the front door. I am an anonymous visitor. This is vastly different than what Ancestry is doing. In order to take advantage of a service that I paid money to Ancestry to provide to me they demand that I accept session cookies. So what? Well their computers can match who I am, name, address, sex, age, etc., with the fact that I logged in. So let's say that lots of subscribers visit their Civil War pension files. Along comes a statistician and says: let's look at our most popular areas in detail via a random sample. So they select at random a number of their customers that they know visited a certain section and they pull their information and pay another company for detailed demographics on you. This would tell them things like what kind of income you have, what kind of neighborhood you live in, what kind of disposable spending level you have and so forth. Ancestry matches this data with the cookie spy data and decides that the market potential for producing a CD-ROM that contains Civil War pension files would be a winner. So they look around in the marketplace and find a company currently producing such a product, they buy them out, change the name on the software to Ancestry and raise the price. Fewer competitors plus they were able to tell from spying on their own customers exactly what the market would be in advance. To me this is a negative result of industry big brother spying and as for me I would rather not give them my money so as to encourage other companies to also spy on my. Cheers, Jason Tracy Jackson wrote: > 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/