SPUG: Web Bugs
Ken McGlothlen
mcglk at artlogix.com
Mon Aug 20 21:03:36 CDT 2001
Doug Beaver <doug at beaver.net> writes:
| Ah. Although doubleclick would only know what ads you saw if the images
| were served from doubleclick servers or if CNN was sending doubleclick
| information after they parsed their logs.
It's almost always the former. CNN has no need to host the webbug, because
you're loading their document; they have a record. It's the aggregators that
are the big privacy problem.
| Me too. That and protection from email virii/worms.
Amen. :)
| It has an option under the images tab where you force mozilla to only request
| images from the domain you're currently viewing. I bet that helps with
| external bugs (i.e., served from doubleclick or akamai) a lot.
Yes, but unfortunately, akamai also carries a lot of actual content-oriented
images. This is why regex blocking is better than site-wide blocking.
| I wonder if there is an ORBS-like list for web bug servers...
Not exactly. junkbuster.org doesn't provide much of a block file. Try a
Google search; quite a few come up with this query:
http://www.google.com/search?q=junkbuster+blockfile
| Anybody have any other tips or tricks for detecting web bugs?
Stay informed. That's the main thing. Investigate suspicious GIFs, and axe
'em. For example, here's my OmniWeb privacy preferences:
.*clickability\.com
.*flycast\.com
.*yourcompass\.com
/.*\.247media.com/
/.*\.a1\.yimg\.com/
/.*\.adbureau.net/
/.*\.centrport\.net/
/.*\.doubleclick\.net/
/.*\.focalink\.com/
/.*\.linx\.sk/
/.*\.mediaplex\.com/
/.*\.msads\.net/
/.*\.paypal\.com/images/.*click.*
/.*avenuea\.com/
/.*hitbox\.com/
/.*intelliads\.com/
/.*linksynergy\.com/
/.*x10.com/
/64\.14\.52\..*/
/[Aa][Dd][Ss]?/
/abcnews\.footprint\.net/ad/
/ads\..*\.com/
/ads\..*\.net/
/ads\.guardianunlimited\.co\.uk/
/ads\.telegraph\.co\.uk/
/adserver/
/adv/
/banners/
/cookie\.tucows\.com/
/g\.fool\.com/art/free/
/g\.fool\.com/art/quotes/compaq.gif
/images\.slashdot\.org/banner/
/media\.quinstreet\.com/
/servads\.aip\.org/
/www\.latimes\.com/ads/
/www\.salon\.com/Creatives/house_468_ron/
/www\.threebrain\.com/ban.*\.jpg
120x60
336x280
468x60
adverts
nl_ad\.gif
sponsors
superstats\.com
toolbar\.netscape\.com
zdnet.com/adverts/
Works pretty well.
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