yes winston its been pointed out here before, but its good to keep pointing it out for new readers and we are getting a lot here lately
, you have it right they cant but they do.....
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http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/0...rasite-cookie/
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April 7, 2008, 4:04 pm Phorm’s All-Seeing Parasite Cookie
By
Saul Hansell
Cookies have gotten a bad rap.
They are a little bit of Internet technology that has been associated in some strands of popular discussion with the darkest strains of Big Brother online.
In fact, cookies do help some Internet companies track some information about users, but there have been significant limitations on what they could see.
One interesting aspect of the plans by Phorm, a company building an advertising targeting system, is that it has found a way to make cookies do what so many feared they could: track every page you visit on the Internet.....
....
If you follow all this, it raises troubling and heretofore unexplored questions about who has rights to do what with cookies. Is it acceptable for Phorm to ride, almost like a parasite, on a cookie set by another company without its permission?
Kent Ertugrul, Phorm’s chief executive, says it is acceptable, because the users are notified about Phorm’s system and given the opportunity to opt out, and it is their computer on which these cookies reside."