http://www.physorg.com/news109438184.html

You can set your cookie acceptance settings in IE & Mozilla and be prompted each and every time wants to be set.

Now I understand why Symantec sucks if the CEO of a technology company doesn"t know that. Sheesh!

"Reaper6971", you don't get his point.

Not only web browsers interact with the computer and
the outside world (internet).
By putting the cookie check responsibility solely on an
application, you are forcing all applications to implement
cookie/malware checking.
The responsibility should be put on cookie makers
to ask for permission before they plant them,
regardless of the application(browser etc.) setting.

I'd say that's expecting people to not look out for their own security, but rather have their security spoon fed to them.

I'm of the mind that if you're going to be on the internet(s) you should be security concious. After all, it isn't like people haven't ever heard of Malware, Spyware, Adware, and Viruses and it also isn't as if there aren't hundreds of programs, some free, that will protect you from these kinds of threats. Adaware has a free version and it will detect & delete tracking cookies, problem solved. Or, the person has their security settings configured properly and has no need of Adaware.

There are many services out there for those who don't know much about computers to configure their computers and train them on how to use them. All people have to do is educate themselves, god forbid.

@cmroll

"By putting the cookie check responsibility solely on an
application, you are forcing all applications to implement cookie/malware checking."

Utter nonsense! FIRST OF ALL, ITS THE ***** BROWSERS THAT CREATE THE COOKIES IN THE FIRST PLACE! You come off quite assured of yourself for someone that has no idea they're talking about!

And secondly I'm SICK of people lumping cookies in with malware. Thats also nonsense.
The only way cookies can be used 'maliciously' is when the implementation of them in the browser is full of security holes. For most purposes, cookies just provide a means for a website to identify prior visitors. If you are coming to my website, then I obviously don't have access to any more information from the domain cookie than I already KNOW. Do I agree that 3rd party cookies and other nefarious uses of them should be stopped with a browser upgrade? Sure.. these stupid ad tracking companies are ruining a very useful tool for the rest of us small business website owners.

I have no objection to the original intent of cookies, to keep track of settings so you don't have to repeatedly enter data for a given site. However, when I have to spend more time going through my email to sort out spam than I do reading and answering my legitimate email because I've been tagged for 'targeted advertising' I get miffed. It's like having somebody go through my mailbox for data so they can send me more junk mail for me to sort out into my trash. In my personal opinion, everyone who sells my name and other private information on mailing lists should be required to pay me at least half what they make on such sales. Additionally, I think I should be compensated for the sheer time it takes to sort through all the junk to get at the stuff I want. If I want a product, I don't look at the spam, I go to my search engine and look it up on an a priori basis. Not only do I not like spam, I also will generally not buy stuff from those spammers who are the worst offenders. I am getting extremely angry with the new attitude that companies seem to think I'll be more prone to buying thier stuff if they annoy the piss out of me. In fact, I have a long list of online dealers I will not do business with for that reason. I would love to have a software routine that would automatically send copies of all spam emails back to the source, in a one hour flood. The only reason I don't is because there are laws concerning denial of service that protect the spammers from spamming. If only there were laws like that to protect the general public against the same. I consider it a denial of my free time to have to do all that sorting. If a company thinks thier time is money, then why shouldn't my time be worth something, too? Why should I have to waste, sometimes several hours, of my time with such nonsense? The hour or more I put to this useless task is time I could have put to having fun, making money or visiting friends. Instead, I have to sit here and read and delete upwards of 1000 emails that I could care less about. Isn't it enough we are bombarded with advertisement everywhere we go? Billboards, hand out flyers, TV ads (which I understand were needed in the early days to pay for our programs; but now I pay per month to have cable brought into my home, and STILL have to put up with obnoxios ads!), and postal junk mail. My garbage contains, on average, about one half to two thirds junk advertising. And people wonder why the rain forests are dissappearing so fast. Think of all the trees that could be saved if we simply eliminated junk mail from the postal system. The sad thing is, most junk mailers say that they are playing the percentages and that a 'good' mailing return is only 1 to 2 percent; which means 98 percent of all junk mail is pure trash! This should be made a capital offense in our world of ever diminishing resources. Despite the 'automatic' spam filters, I still have to go through each and every item just to be sure something really important, like my monthly electronic bills, doesn't get put in the wrong folder, or get deleted automatically. Why do we, the consumers, have to pay for advertisers flooding us with ads for junk we neither need nor can afford? Again, if I need your product, I'll come looking for you. You don't have to annoy me by sticking your ads in my face every time I turn around. Anyone who doesn't think this is a problem, can have all my spam and junk mail. Maybe after you've wasted a good day on sorting and deleting that you could have been out enjoying a beautiful day, you'll think differently about it all. Personally, I have lots of things I'd rather do, even on a rainy day.

Oh, and REAPER, if you think it's ok for people to put cookies on your system without your knowledge or permission, and that it is entirely up to you to see to your security: I know of a really good hacker who uses cookies to collect all sorts of data on people, like name, social security numbers, passwords, financial data, and buying habits. And, yes, all this and more can be gleaned this way. And, FYI, the cookies he writes are perfectly capable of getting past all your browser's defenses, no matter what you use. His hacker name is The Cookie Monster. He makes a really good living off creating malicious cookies for other hackers. If you don't believe me, send me your email addy and IP #. I'll pass it along and we'll see just how much longer you defend this practice when you have to spend most of a morning sorting out the good from the trash in your email.

Argiod,

Yeah, spam sucks, but try and stay on topic. We're talking about COOKIES, not SPAM.

I do take care of my own security. Any cookie that wants to be placed on my system has to be explicitly allowed.

There are varying levels of cookie security. FireFox has some good ones, though it's allow/disallow needs a little tweaking, imo. But, you can either allow them for the session, disallow them entirely, etc. The simplest thing to do is to deny ALL 3rd party cookies.

The end user ALREADY has the tools to do the things necessary to protect themselves from tracking cookies, et al. All they have to do is take the initiative and use them.