Privacy Watch: New Tools Take the Bite Out of Cookies

If you care about Internet privacy, you might have been tempted recently to relocate to Vienna, Florence, or Marseilles: The European Parliament voted last fall to forbid Web sites from placing cookies on a visitor's computer without the user's permission.

Though the European legislation still has some hurdles to clear, there's been no significant movement toward the same goal by lawmakers on this side of the Atlantic. So if you want to avoid being tracked while you surf, says Lauren Weinstein, a moderator for the Privacy Forum mailing list, "continued vigilance regarding cookies is more important now than ever. Firms are engaged in all manner of data collection and tracking."

Fortunately, users now have far more power to specify which sites can set and read cookies, those small data files that identify computers. I recommend that you allow originating Web sites to set cookies. If you've paid for a subscription to Salon.com, for instance, the site will know you're a subscriber when you return. But you should block third-party cookies, which frequently come from ad-serving companies like DoubleClick and may be used to track you. (Note: PCWorld.com places its own cookies on visitors' computers. The site's advertisers also place cookies.)

Netscape has always allowed users to block third-party cookies in the Preferences dialog box; just click Edit*Preferences. If you have Netscape 6.x, expand the Privacy and Security topic, and select Cookies. If you have an earlier version, select Advanced in the left pane. In either version, click the radio button that allows only cookies from originating sites.

IE Cuts Out the Sweets

New privacy features introduced in Internet Explorer 6 give you control over third-party cookies. Under Tools, go to Internet Options and choose the Privacy tab. You don't need to puzzle over IE's slider control. Simply click the Advanced button, put a check next to Override automatic cookie handling, and then direct IE to accept first-party cookies and block third-party cookies.

For detailed cookie control, you can choose from a host of independent cookie blockers and cookie managers with even more advanced features.

AnalogX's CookieWall works with all versions of Internet Explorer. If you have a version of IE from 4.01 through 5.01, you can try IDcide's Privacy Companion.

Initially, you will get a lot of queries from cookie manager programs, but once you set the preferences for all the sites you want to use cookies on, the programs quietly delete all the cookies you don't want, and then leave you alone. And being left alone is what privacy is all about.