IP: MICROSOFT QUIETLY SHADOWS WEB SURFERS ACROSS MSN SITES Edupage, September 18 2000

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>
>Microsoft said last week that its privacy policy does not
>address its method of identifying people who surf its online
>network.  The issue is central to one of the latest worries over
>Internet privacy--companies' ability to identify surfers who
>travel across various sites.  After Washington-based consultancy
>PCHelp posted an advisory, Microsoft disclosed that cross-domain
>visitors are redirected to a single server that gives them an
>MSID identifier, which in turn tracks each visitor over the
>company's Web sites.  "This mechanism of redirects allows cookie
>data to be carried invisibly from one domain to another, and for
>matching cookies to be created," wrote PCHelp in its advisory.
>Following a complaint that Microsoft was using third-party
>cookies working across different domains, Microsoft patched its
>Internet Explorer browser to give users better understanding and
>more control.  Microsoft promised that a new version of its
>privacy policy, due in early October, will clarify the
>tracking method. (CNet, September 13 2000)