Personal Shopper: Cookies can weigh you down in junk ads

Imagine this: You answer the doorbell and find a Girl Scout standing there, peddling cookies. Youâ€™re ready for your annual Thin Mint fix, so you order a few boxes.<br><br>Then, because she looks so cute

Saturday, April 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Imagine this: You answer the doorbell and find a Girl Scout standing there, peddling cookies. Youâ€™re ready for your annual Thin Mint fix, so you order a few boxes.

Then, because she looks so cute in her little green uniform (or because sheâ€™s your neighborâ€™s kid and you donâ€™t want to look like a cheapskate), you also order a box of Samoas and Do-Si-Dos. Then you wait for the day your guilt-free (hey, itâ€™s for a good cause, right?) calorie binge can begin.

But before that can happen, something else does.

A few days later another kid - not a Girl Scout, just an aspiring cookie entrepreneur - shows up selling cookies. And few days after that yet another kid is there, hawking the New Improved Thyn Mint, not to be confused with the Girl Scout-!sanctioned Thin Mint. He thinks youâ€™ll be interested because he saw you talking to the Girl Scout.

Then you start getting mailings from cookie companies and calls from cookie telemarketers, all trying to sell you something similar to what you bought from the neighborâ€™s kid.

To increase her profit, the Girl Scout sold your name, address and cookie preferences to other cookie sellers.

Now, Girl Scouts donâ€™t really do this. I repeat: Girl Scouts do not do this. Go ahead and buy your Thin Mints worry-free.

Low calorie, high impact

But letâ€™s transfer this fictional scenario to your computer. Now weâ€™re talking about a different kind of cookies, but youâ€™re going to get the same results as those Iâ€™ve just depicted in the fictional Girl Scout scenario.

The cookies Iâ€™m talking about are tiny files placed on your computer by Web servers. Instead of Do-Si-Dos, you get a unique number that identifies your computer to the Web sites you visit.

By monitoring all the places you visit on the Web and possibly the searches you conduct - a process called profiling - retailers and advertisers can compile a lot of information about you and use it to try to sell you things.
Remember, Web sites are just another form of media that often make the bulk of their money from advertisers. Just as magazines sell their subscriber lists, Web sites can sell the information they gather about their users.

Thatâ€™s you, folks.

This isnâ€™t a new practice. Some retailers, and even some government agencies, have long increased revenue by selling their contact databases. Thatâ€™s how your name gets on all those mailing lists and phone solicitation rosters.

The Internet simply widens its scope by giving telemarketers unprecedented access to your preferences.

Keep in mind that cookies can identify you to sites where you simply visit and donâ€™t buy. If you inadvertently land on a wholesale pickle sellerâ€™s site, you might start getting solicitations for sweet gherkins. As with one of the kids I mentioned in my opening scenario, to simply be "seen with someone" can incite the Direct Marketing Army to launch an offensive against you.

Preventive measures

So how do you protect yourself from such onslaughts?

Try to disable the cookies and educate yourself about privacy issues. I say "try" because there is no one sure method of disabling cookies for all browsers on all computers. What you do for Netscape wonâ€™t necessarily work for Internet Explorer, and what works on your IBM-clone PC wonâ€™t help your friend who uses a Mac.

Even if you kill your existing cookie files, servers can quietly re-establish them.

The best first step to crumble those cookies is to download and install Internet Junkbuster.
This is a free computer program offered by Junkbusters Corp. that thwarts cookies and those annoying online banner ads. You can download the software from the companyâ€™s Web site at www.junkbusters.com.

The site also offers comprehensive information about cookies, details about stopping direct marketing of all kinds and updates on the battle raging between privacy advocates and direct marketers.

It is an excellent resource. Visit it often.

Next, find out from each Web browser you use its policies regarding cookies. If itâ€™s possible, disable the cookies. The browser should have instructions on how to do this.

Junkbusters also offers instructions on disabling cookies.

In some cases, youâ€™ll be able to instruct the browser to alert you before accepting cookies.
If youâ€™re serious about this, simply donâ€™t use browsers that refuse to block cookies. There is too much choice out there to patronize a company that does not respect your privacy.

Remember, a browser is just a computer program that helps you search the Net and, like all software, it gets updated. Cookie policies can change from version to version.

Next, read up on privacy and the Internet.

There are many good books on the topic. Here are three of them: Who Knows: Safeguarding Your Privacy in a Networked World; Protecting Yourself Online: The Definitive Resource on Safety, Freedom, and Privacy in Cyberspace; and Cookies.

That last one is highly technical; the other two are easier reads but not as detailed.

All three were published in 1998, so they do not provide the most up-to-date information.
Junkbusters.com and Wired magazine do a good job reporting the most recent developments.

Among the hottest news is the recent decision by DoubleClick, the Internetâ€™s largest advertising company, to put a moratorium on its plans to merge its online profiles with a database of personal information, including phone numbers, that it acquired last year when it bought Abacus Direct, a direct-marketing services firm.

DoubleClickâ€™s plans elicited a howl from privacy advocates, which led to the moratorium, but donâ€™t get too excited.

According to my desktop Websterâ€™s II, "moratorium" means "a temporary pause in activity."

DoubleClick will use that information when it figures out how to do so without a public uproar. And the company wonâ€™t be alone for long. Others will follow the profit potential right into your Web browser.

So while they are figuring out their strategy, you better get your own battle plan ready.
Donâ€™t delay. Grab a book and a box of Thin Mints, and settle down in a comfy chair to plot your cookie counterattack.

Do you have questions about shopping online? Or do you have online buying experiences youâ€™d like to share? Send questions and comments to me at personaltech@dallasnews.com and put 'personal shopper' in the subject line.
Melinda Rice, a frequent contributor to The Dallas Morning News, is a free-lance writer in Arlington, Texas who thinks e-shopping is the best invention since chocolate.