Slashdot Mirror
Do Not Call Site Has AT&T Stats Tracker?
hookedup writes "The Register is carrying an article about suspicious content at the FTC's Do Not Call site. It has been a runaway hit with US consumers, with over fifty million signing up to avoid spam calls from telemarketers. But the web site hides a little secret: a 1x1 pixel image tracking visitors... and where does the trail lead but to the AT&T, one of the most persistent telemarketers." However, the tipster, James 'Kibo' Parry, notes: "There isn't any evidence proving they _are_ up to anything improper, but this relationship between the FTC and AT&T fails to avoid the potential for impropriety."
Slashdot runs MS ads.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I went to ftc.gov to see if such a link is standard operating procedure for them. It isn't on that site. Strange, no? Why would they track anyone who wants to stop receiveing phone ads? To make up for it in spam! :-)
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
Um...
AT&T Government Solutions Will Operate Do-Not-Call List
www.christopherlewis.com
The article says, "The FTC confirmed that AT&T Managed Services is its contractor, and hosts the website."
They don't need a 1x1 image to track usage... they have the server logs!
In that case, what everyone really wants to know is: "Is AT&T allowed ?
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
Sure, it seems like nothing now. But once all the Opera and Mozilla users have been rounded up, put into camps and executed it'll be too late.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I'd be willing to be that AT&T hosting people don't even know that the AT&T phone people exist.
You must be new here. That's only one order of magnatude. Around here, that's pretty good.
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
Will someone please tell me what would prevent a telemarketing company outside the US from obtaining this very accurate list of phone numbers?
A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
The web bug is to http://g6589dcs.nyc2.aens.net
Aens.net is
AT&T Enhanced Network Services (AENS6-DOM)
POB 919014
San Diego, CA 92191-9014
US
Which is basically AT&T Managed Services.
I'm assuming its a bug to make sure the site is up and running...
Course I could be wrong, and it is a part of a national conspiracy to make my dinner get cold.
www.christopherlewis.com
And it is inside a tag, which will only be fetched if javascript is disabled. Lynx and links will only fetch it if you ask them to.
It looks like its purpose is tracking how many people surf with javascript disabled.
Wait until the story is duped a few times, they should all add up to the right number eventually.
Given that, this article is useless.
But even more so, if you go to the site it says at the bottom: This privacy policy states:There. Case solved. Stop being paranoid about such silly things. If you want to be paranoid, be paranoid that the MPAA might accidentally associate your IP with file sharing even if you don't file share, or be paranoid that John Ashcroft is using the PATRIOT Act or Patriot Act II (to be introduced in Congress soon) to spy on you for reasons unrelated to terrorism (as he has done). Better yet, donate some money to the ACLU to protect your civil liberties or to the EFF to protect your electronic freedoms.
Soooooo....
/ njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript">
What would happen if all of us started putting the below image on all of the websites that we run?
Hmm...
<img BORDER="0" NAME="DCSIMG" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1" SRC="http://g6589dcs.nyc2.aens.net/DCS000003_6D4Q
--
http://www.aikiweb.com - AikiWeb Aikido Information
wow, the same kibo of usenet fame now graces slashdot.
for those of you not familiar with one who has been once declared a "USENET Deity", here's a brief article describing the man, the myth, the legend.
Here is the snippet from the page http://www.donotcall.gov/ Note that the img tag is embedded in the noscript tag. That is, this img is only loaded in graphical browsers that don't use javascript. Since AT&T has the government contract to implement the DNC list, I don't think there's anything sinister going on here, they just want a count of the number of users that don't use/enable javascript.
/ njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript">
-molo
<noscript>
<img BORDER="0" NAME="DCSIMG" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1" SRC="http://g6589dcs.nyc2.aens.net/DCS000003_6D4Q
</noscript>
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
I'm glad this was reported, and I think it needs to be looked into more closely.
But.
There's this taunting little voice in my head wondering if somebody didn't say,
Web Developer 1: "Hey, let's add a web bug to Do Not Call page, and then we'll leak it to Slashdot."
Web Developer 2: "WTF would we want to do that?
Web Developer 1: "So when they find out about it, we can watch those Slashdot monkeys dance!"
Web Developer 2: "Yeah, yeah, dance dance dance in their tin-foil hats! Coool!"
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
I would hope that "building" the site for $3.5 million also includes running it, ongoing maintenance, etc. Because if the government really paid AT&T $3.5 million to BUILD it and still has to pay some ongoing fee, they got ripped by an order or two of magnitude.
Government waste isn't surprising, but it's sad when it is made so obvious. A good percentage of the folks here at Slashdot could have done just as good a job for a fraction of the cost and STILL recorded a very good year income-wise.
http://www.defenselink.mil/nii/org/cio/doc