Cable Forum - View Single Post - Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797]

flowrebmit · 05-04-2008, 13:03

Anyone else wondered why the allegedly random Webwise UID is so LARGE?

According to Richard Clayton's technical notes point 31, Phorm say that the Webwise UID numbers that will be stored in our browser's cookies is a 16 byte random number. A 16 byte number can range from 0 to 4.3 x 10^38 (or to express it another way that is 43 followed by 37 zeros). It is a mind-boggling large number, so why is the random number so big?

It seems (to me) too much of a coincidence that the replacement IPv6 addressing scheme is 16 bytes long...

For info, an IPv4 address, ones that you may be familar with (e.g. 87.106.129.133) is just a 4 byte number written in a form that is slightly easier for humans to understand.

05-04-2008, 13:03	#2401
flowrebmit Inactive Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hampshire Services: VM BB 10Mb XL & TV L Posts: 150	Re: Virgin Media Phorm Webwise Adverts [Updated: See Post No. 1, 77, 102 & 797] Anyone else wondered why the allegedly random Webwise UID is so LARGE? According to Richard Clayton's technical notes point 31, Phorm say that the Webwise UID numbers that will be stored in our browser's cookies is a 16 byte random number. A 16 byte number can range from 0 to 4.3 x 10^38 (or to express it another way that is 43 followed by 37 zeros). It is a mind-boggling large number, so why is the random number so big? It seems (to me) too much of a coincidence that the replacement IPv6 addressing scheme is 16 bytes long... For info, an IPv4 address, ones that you may be familar with (e.g. 87.106.129.133) is just a 4 byte number written in a form that is slightly easier for humans to understand.