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Cookies
#25130 02/24/13 04:19 AM
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I usually have my cookies set to "block cookies always" yet I have over 100 of them a day. Any ideas why that would happen?

I've also set it at "block from third parties and advertiser" at times which doesn't work either.

Thanks.



MacBook Pro - M2, Ventura 13.6
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Re: Cookies
plantsower #25131 02/24/13 05:47 AM
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Hi, Rita,

Assuming that Safari 5 & 6 work similarly, I assume that you're seeing those cookies at Safari > Prefs > Privacy > Cookies and other website data?

If so, if you click on "Details," are your items really cookies, or are they caches?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Cookies
artie505 #25132 02/24/13 06:06 AM
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Hi Artie:

Oh, I assumed they were all cookies! Now that I look, there are a few cookies.

Some say cookies, some day cache, some say cache.cookies, some say cache.cookies.local storage, some just say local storage and one says cache.plug-in.

Most of them were not websites I surfed. Never heard of them. confused

What is the cache since I never surfed there? I know cookies track me. I'm not sure about the others.

Thanks.

Rita





Originally Posted By: artie505
Hi, Rita,

Assuming that Safari 5 & 6 work similarly, I assume that you're seeing those cookies at Safari > Prefs > Privacy > Cookies and other website data?

If so, if you click on "Details," are your items really cookies, or are they caches?


MacBook Pro - M2, Ventura 13.6
Safari Tech Prev 17.0
Safari 16.6
Firefox 116.0.2
iPhone 7 Version 15.8




Re: Cookies
plantsower #25133 02/24/13 07:09 AM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
Oh, I assumed they were all cookies! Now that I look, there are a few cookies.

Some say cookies, some day cache, some say cache.cookies, some say cache.cookies.local storage, some just say local storage and one says cache.plug-in.

Most of them were not websites I surfed. Never heard of them. confused

What is the cache since I never surfed there? I know cookies track me. I'm not sure about the others.

I'll answer as best I can, and somebody else will probably drop by later with a link or two (probably to threads in which I've participated and should have bookmarked or just plain remembered).

1. I don't know why you get any cookies if you've got Safari > Prefs > Privacy > Block cookies > Always checked.

2. "Cookies track me" is not quite on the mark... Some cookies store info about your browsing habits at particular Websites, your login ID, what you've got in your shopping cart, and various and sundry other stuff you (I, anyhow) don't mind them storing, i.e. they're not really tracking cookies, while others really do track you. (Note that if you block the former you'll get pop-ups from some Websites telling you that they won't function while you've got cookies "disabled.")

I use Cookie to differentiate between the two types of cookies and deal with them. (Edit: Safari Cookies, from the same developer, provides less functionality than Cookie, but it's donationware, rather than shareware.)

3. I've posted here asking about local storage, and I still don't know precisely what it's all about even after reading the responses, but I'll tell you that I've (theoretically) got it blocked at Safari > Prefs > Advanced > Database storage > None allowed before asking, and at Apps/SysPrefs > Other > Flash Player > Storage > Block all sites from storing information on this computer, and if blocking it has ever gotten in the way of anything, I'm totally unaware of it. (The latter is only pertinent if you're running Flash Player.)

4. > "Some say cookies, some day cache, some say cache.cookies, some say cache.cookies.local storage, some just say local storage and one says cache.plug-in."

Each is telling you what the Website in question has dumped on you, either one or more of the various categories of stuff.

5. I believe the caches are all tracking you in one way or another, but I'm not aware of any way to tell which particular Website placed which particular cache. Many of them can be blocked with Ghostery and others of its ilk, and if you'd like to walk around with crossed eyes for the rest of the day you can read through Internet privacy bonanza?.

Hope this helped. smile

Last edited by artie505; 02/24/13 10:00 AM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Cookies
artie505 #25135 02/24/13 04:42 PM
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...“and if you'd like to walk around with crossed eyes for the rest of the day you can read through Internet privacy bonanza.
LOL! You know me so well!!

That was a lot to take in. I still don't understand why "they" can get through even though I thought I'd blocked them. And especially websites I've never heard of. They must be embedded in the ones I do visit. That just makes me mad!

Thanks a bunch, though. wink


MacBook Pro - M2, Ventura 13.6
Safari Tech Prev 17.0
Safari 16.6
Firefox 116.0.2
iPhone 7 Version 15.8




Re: Cookies
plantsower #25136 02/24/13 10:17 PM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
I still don't understand why "they" can get through even though I thought I'd blocked them. And especially websites I've never heard of. They must be embedded in the ones I do visit. That just makes me mad!

They get through because the people who create the cookies are very clever at getting around the blocking schemes and in some cases the developers of the browser cooperate with some cookies because it is to their enormous financial advantage. While I don't like being tracked on the web I can't get too mad about it, because this is what pays for web services, like the Google search engine, I use several times each day.

Many, probably most, of those come from banner and other ads on perfectly legitimate web sites you visit. Only a very small minority of web sites do not plant cookies of one sort or another on your computer. Virtually the only site I visit regularly that does not is FineTunedMac. cool

I was helping a friend look for a new car the other day and in fifteen minutes time I had collected nearly 25 cookies. Of the cookies collected, only three or four were actually attempting to track me on the web. The others were holding information about parameters I had entered in my search and where I had been on their site. My search would have been quite a bit more difficult/annoying if I had been forced to enter the same criteria over and over again and again.

I use a three pronged approach to security…
  1. I use Cookie Stumbler extension to block cookies attempting to "phone home". Once a day the Cookie Stumbler app (the full app, not Cookie Stumbler Basic that is available on the App Store) automatically runs and deletes all of the various cookies I have added to the "blacklist". Removing undesired cookies actually improves browser performance. It has taken a good while to customize my keep list and black list but I have reduced the average number of cookies on my system from around 1,800 when I started to 83 at this precise moment. cool
  2. Since, to the best of my knowledge, no one extension can block every tracking attempt, in addition to Cookie Stumbler, I have Artie505's favorite Safari extension Ghostery installed. It is the rare site where either or both of these extensions isn't indicating cookies are being blocked from "tracking" me.
  3. I also have the DoNotTrackMe extension installed that purports to request web sites not to track, but I am suspicious that many (most?) sites ignore this request.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Cookies
joemikeb #25137 02/24/13 10:28 PM
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Thanks, JoeMikeb. I also use the extension with a request not to follow me. I doubted anyone would honor it, and they don't.

I use Adblock, so I rarely see ads or banners. I guess that doesn't keep them from tracking me, though, huh?

Thanks for the info and the software ideas.

Rita


MacBook Pro - M2, Ventura 13.6
Safari Tech Prev 17.0
Safari 16.6
Firefox 116.0.2
iPhone 7 Version 15.8




Re: Cookies
joemikeb #25157 02/26/13 06:29 AM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
...Artie505's favorite Safari extension Ghostery....

Actually, my favorite Safari Extension is AdBlock (with SnapBack running a close second smile ), and here's why:

My original "don't track me" scheme was a combination of Cookie (*), Ghostery, and my /private/etc/hosts file with the contents of this Ad server list appended, both with and without www. prepended to each entry. In addition, I've identified a bunch of tracking sites that repeatedly stick me with caches but are not blocked by either Ghostery or the ad server list and appended them, again, both with and without www. prepended, to my hosts file.

But... I eventually figured out how to use AdBlock Options > Filter lists > Subscribe... to link to this variant of the ad server list, and that, combined with its inherent ad blocking capability and its further ability to block any html element of a Web page, kicks AdBlock waaay up into first place. (Also, AdBlock updates the ad server list on its own, saving me from having to keep up with it on my own.)

(*) Unfortunately, Cookie does not play all that nicely with Snow Leopard (Russell, its developer, tells me that it works quite well with Lion and Mt. Lion, though.) and requires "hands-on" management. frown


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Cookies
artie505 #25160 02/26/13 10:09 AM
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For those for whom this is relevant, Apple reportedly rejecting 'cookie tracking' apps in push for its Ad Identifier will be of interest.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Cookies
jchuzi #25161 02/26/13 10:17 AM
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Thanks for the link, Jon.

I'm not all that sure it's pertinent, but I'm also not all that sure that I understand it to the point at which I'm competent to judge its pertinence.

Huh?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire

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