Despite Others' Claims,Tracking Cookies Fit My Spyware Definition
Suppose you bought a TV set that included a component to track what you watched, and then reported that data back to a company that used or sold it for advertising purposes. Only nobody told you the tracking technology was there or asked your permission to use it.
You would likely be outraged at this violation of privacy. Yet that kind of Big Brother intrusion goes on every day on the Internet, affecting millions of people. Many Web sites, even from respectable companies, place a secret computer file called a "tracking cookie" on your hard disk. This file records where you go on the Web on behalf of Internet advertising companies that later use the information for their own business purposes. In almost all cases, the user isn't notified of the download of the tracking cookie, let alone asked for permission to install it.
Luckily, the leading Windows antispyware programs can detect and remove these tracking cookies. It is the best defense a user has against this tactic.
WALL STREET JOURNAL VIDEO
Walt Mossberg explains why tracking cookies fits his defition of spyware.
Now, though, some of the companies that place these files on your hard disk are complaining about that defense. Some are urging the antispyware software companies to stop detecting and removing tracking cookies. They assert that the secret placement of these tracking mechanisms is a legitimate business practice, and that tracking cookies aren't really spyware or aren't harmful.
Unfortunately for consumers, this twisted reasoning is having some impact. In the most notable case, Microsoft disabled the detection and removal of tracking cookies when it purchased an antispyware program from a small company called Giant and turned it into Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware. That is a big reason why I can't recommend the Microsoft product, which still is in the test phase but is available for anyone to download.
Microsoft says it still is evaluating how to treat tracking cookies in the program's final release. I believe it is important for consumers to know who is on their side right from the start and who may be being swayed by companies that do things to your computer without telling you.
The antispyware program I currently use and recommend, Spy Sweeper from Webroot Software, still detects and removes tracking cookies. So does another antispyware program derived from some of the same computer code as the Microsoft product -- CounterSpy, by Sunbelt Software. I haven't tested the latter program, but it has received good reviews elsewhere. There are other antispyware programs as well that still treat tracking cookies as spyware.
To understand the tracking-cookie issue, you have to know something about cookies overall, and you have to know what spyware actually is.
Cookies are small text files that Web-site operators -- and third-party companies that insert ads into Web sites -- place on a user's computer. Many types of cookies are harmless or even helpful. For instance, a cookie might help a Web site remember your preferences for what news topics you chose to see. With your permission, it might store your login information, so you don't have to type it in each time you visit a particular site. Antispyware programs aren't designed to detect or remove these helpful cookies.
Tracking cookies shouldn't be confused with these other cookies. They have no user benefit except the vague promise that the ads you get as a result may be better tailored to your interests.
What is spyware? There are many definitions, but here is mine, in two sentences. Spyware -- and a related category called adware -- is computer code placed on a user's computer without his or her permission and without notification, or with notification so obscure it hardly merits the term. Once installed, spyware and adware alter the PC's behavior to suit the interests of outside parties rather than those of the owner or user.
Examples of spyware and adware include programs called "browser hijackers," which reset the home page or search engine used by your browser so the user is diverted to the sites of the spyware and adware companies or their clients. Others record your activities and report them to outside parties. Still others push ads in your face, even when you aren't using the Web.
Some tracking-cookie purveyors say their cookies aren't really spyware because they aren't full-fledged programs and they aren't as outrageous as spyware programs like "key loggers," which record and report every keystroke you enter. Others argue that the companies don't collect personally identifiable data, only aggregate data from many users. To me, tracking cookies clearly meet the obvious definition of spyware.
Rather than trying to legitimize tracking cookies with pressure and marketing campaigns, I suggest that, if they really believe tracking cookies are legitimate, the companies that use them simply go straight. They should ask a user's permission to install the cookies, pointing out whatever user benefits they believe the cookies provide. They might even offer users compensation for allowing tracking cookies on their machines.
Until that happens, here is my advice: If you don't like the idea of tracking cookies, run an antispyware program that detects and removes them, along with all the other indefensible computer code some companies think they have the right to install. After all, it is your computer.
“Tracking Cookie”就是间谍软件
假如你买了一台电视机，其中包括一个部件能够跟踪你观看的节目，然后将这些数据报告给出于广告目的使用或出售它的公司。但没有人告知你电视机中具有跟踪技术，或请求你的允许使用这项技术。
你对这种侵犯隐私权的做法很可能勃然大怒。但这种强行侵入的做法在互联网上却无时无刻不在发生，受到影响的人有数以百万计。许多网站，甚至部分受人尊敬的公司也会在你的电脑硬盘上放置一个叫做“tracking cookie”的秘密电脑文件。这个文件帮助互联网广告公司记录你上了哪些网站，然后将这些信息用于它们自己的商业目的。几乎在所有情况下，用户在下载tracking cookie时都没有获得任何提示，更不用说被询问是否可以安装了。
幸运的是，先进的Windows反间谍软件都能够探测和清除这些tracking cookie。这是用户抵御这种侵袭的最好办法。
但现在，一些将这些文件放置在用户电脑硬盘上的公司开始抱怨这种防御措施。部分公司敦促反间谍软件企业停止探测和清除tracking cookie。他们认为秘密放置tracking cookie是合法的商业行为，tracking cookie不是真正的间谍软件，也没有害处。
不幸的是，对消费者而言，这个牵强的理由起到了一些作用。最为著名的一次就是微软(Microsoft)在从一个叫做Giant的小软件公司手里购买了一款反间谍软件、并将其改名为Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware后，就移除了该软件探测和清除tracking cookie的功能。这也是我不能推荐这款微软产品的一个重要原因。目前这款软件还处于测试阶段，但任何人都可以下载。
微软称，仍在评估在最终发布的版本中如何处理tracking cookie。我认为，对消费者而言，重要的是清楚谁从一开始就站在他们一边，谁可能受到那些偷偷在你电脑中放置软件的公司的影响。
我目前使用和推荐的反间谍软件──Webroot Software的Spy Sweeper仍能够发现和清除tracking cookie。另外一款反间谍软件──Sunbelt Software的CounterSpy也具有这项功能。我没有对后者进行测试，但它受到了普遍好评。还有其他一些反间谍程序将tracking cookie视为间谍软件。
为了了解tracking cookie的问题，你需要大体了解一下Cookie，也需要知道间谍软件是什么。
Cookie是网站经营者──或在网站插入广告的第三方公司──放置在用户电脑中的小文本文件。大多数cookie都无害，甚至会起到辅助作用。比如，cookie会帮助一个网站记住你喜欢选择浏览哪类新闻。在你允许的情况下，它还会存储你的登录信息，因此在你访问某个网站时不必每次都键入这些信息。反间谍程序不会探测和清除这些有用的cookie。
不应将tracking cookie同这些cookie混为一谈。它们对用户没有任何益处，只是模糊地承诺你得到的广告是根据你的兴趣量身定做的。
何为间谍软件？对于它有许多定义，但我给它的定义是两句话。间谍软件及相关的广告类软件是未经用户许可和没有通知、或用用户难以分辨的隐晦语言提示而安装在用户电脑上的电脑代码。一旦安装之后，间谍软件和广告软件就会改变电脑的行为，以符合外部团体而不是电脑所有者或用户的利益。
间谍软件和广告软件包括所谓的“浏览器劫持”程序，即重置你的浏览器使用的主页或搜索引擎，使用户转向间谍软件和广告软件的公司或其客户的网站。还有一些软件记录你的活动，并报告给其他团体。也有一些会在你面前弹出广告，即使在你没有浏览网页的情况下。
部分tracking cookie的传播者称，他们的cookie不是真正的间谍软件，因为它们并不是无孔不入的程序，也没有“key loggers”等间谍软件那样具有破坏性。后者能记录和报告你的每次按键动作。还有人辩称，这些公司并不收集个人身份数据，只是大多数用户的总体数据。但对我来说，tracking cookie明显符合间谍软件的定义。
我认为，如果这些公司真的认为tracking cookie是合法的，他们就不应试图通过施压和游说活动使其合法化，而仅需光明正大地使用它们即可。他们应该在安装这类cookie时争得用户的许可，指出他们认为这些cookie能够用户带来什么好处。他们还可以向允许在其电脑上安装tracking cookie的用户提供补偿。
除非出现这种情况，否则以下是我的建议：如果你不喜欢tracking cookie出现，就运行能够探测和清除它们及其他自主安装的电脑代码的反间谍软件。毕竟，这是你的电脑。
