Browser Spyware: Watching Where You Linger

An Anonymous Coward writes: "Just when you you'd installed Junkbuster and thought it was safe to go back onto the web, the BBC runs this story which tells you that webshites will soon(?) be able to tell whether you are reading the page, what parts of it are of interest to you, etc. Guess we can expect porn sites to be the first to take advantage of this." Or perhaps someone else is already doing this, and hasn't told you.

Comments

Excite may already be doing this

[Compulawyer]

I have noticed that when I log into Excite, some pages I view have been loading a 1 X 1 Applet that is transmitting information (at least time spent on the page) back to servers. As far as I am concerned the only uses for a 1 X 1 ANYTHING on a web page are no good.

I have not yet grabbed the applet and tried to decompile it (mostly for lack of time), so I do not know exactly what it is doing in addition to sending time information, but it struck me as extremely obnoxious.

I am stuck using Win98 and Netscape 4.7 at work, so I cannot use a more enlightened browser that selectively grants/denies JavaScript and Java access by domain name. So...I am stuck being watched to a certain extent.

Is it just me or is anyone else sick and tired of being treated like some company's asset? I am tired of the companies I deal with trying to suck every possible dime out of the relationship they have with me -- ESPECIALLY when it comes to selling my personal information.

Several answers

[Croaker]

I have a mutli-level armored approach to browsing:

1. I installed Bugnosis which is designed specifically to deal with single pixels images that might be web bugs.
2. I use Proxomitron to do Javascript filtering. It cuts out the worst examples of Javascript annoyances (popups, leaving the page triggers, etc.) The filters are editable, so you can customize them yourself to filter out things like this spy script.
3. I route everything through Junkbuster, which gets rid of the ads that Proxomitron misses.

All of the above besides Junkbuster are Windows-only. The first one is specific to IE, but I end up using that anyhow, since it's the most stable Windows browser.

I can browse most sites that don't do stupid shit like refuse to serve pages to me if they cannot detect my browser (in which case, they are probably crap, anyhow). For shopping sites, I can just add the site to Junkbuster, or bypass the protection through Proxomitron. I am pop-up ad free, and I give out minimal information about myself. The other better way of browsing I could see would be to use an anonymous proxy, which would protect my IP addess.

Of course, this would bet better implemented via the browser. I was using Konqueror a lot at home under Linux, but it began crashing too much for my tastes. There, I've just stuck to using Mozilla with Junkbuster. Javascripts still sometimes get through, though.