Sleazy Ebay doubleclick practices *and* thanks Eudora!

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From:
Date: November 15, 2004 12:34:15 AM EST
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Subject: Sleazy Ebay doubleclick practices *and* thanks Eudora!

Please forward to IP if you feel appropriate and new to the list
but please remove my From: as I prefer this to be anonymous.

Ebay has this nice feature under My Ebay that is very useful.
It is called "All Favorites".  Users are allowed to set up searches
with the option of sending them email for any newly posted items that
match the search criteria.  A user can set up many searches. I've been
an avid (rabid?) user of these searches in the past for keeping  track
of new items.  Very useful.

However, BEWARE!!  And Thanks Eudora for Mac!!

On the Mac, I recently updated my Eudora to the latest beta release.
I can't recall exactly when this feature was enabled, but when I mouse
over an HTML URL, Eudora opens a small box and displays the entire
URL string - the real string which is passed to a browser - not the
display string.  Guest what I noticed?  Every All Favorites HTML
URL link is laundered through ebay.doubleclick.net, with what appears
to be a unique ID for the user.

This is likely common practice however, I just became aware of it
and am quite appalled that a unique ID is likely coupled to my
Ebay account ID, and used by doubleclick.net (a non-Ebay company)
to trace my individual search habits.

So now, I don't click on email links from anywhere unless I've
validated the actual link source.  A word to the wise is to not
just go an click...but we all know that, right?

M


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