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Was curious how they were able to detect the presence of a tracking company's cookie. They're using an API provided by all of these tracking companies where th

Was curious how they were able to detect the presence of a tracking company's cookie. They're using an API provided by all of these tracking companies where they vend an image whose height is either 43 pixels (indicating you have a cookie) or 44 pixels (indicating you have no cookie). Does anyone know if there was legislation that made this API a requirement, or is this an example of an industry policing itself in an attempt to stay unregulated?

kuahyeow 16y ago
Same thought here. I find it very bizarre that images are used in such a way. Here's one example of the image: http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_optout.gif http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_optout.gif http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_exists.gif http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_exists.gif
jdp23 16y ago
It's self-regulation, sponsored I believe by the Network Advertising Initiative. NAI is an industry group, analogous to the DMAI in the direct mail world. Most of the responsible advertisers work with them.
mukyu 16y ago
The FTC has been making noise about actually doing something. [1] There are also proposals to W3C defining a 'Do Not Track' HTTP header rather than cookies. [2] [1] http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/12/privacyreport.shtm http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/12/privacyreport.shtm [2] http://www.w3.org/QA/2011/02/do_not_track_at_w3c.html http://www.w3.org/QA/2011/02/do_not_track_at_w3c.html
buddydvd 16y ago
Here's the link to Network Advertising Initiative's opt out page: http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp When you opt out of a network, the participating network will assign you an opt out cookie. When you visit a website that indirectly loads these tracking pages, it will check to see if you have their opt out cookie. If you do, they will avoid assigning you their tracking cookie. These tools basically help you manage and persist the opt-out cookies so that when you clear your browser's cookies, the browser doesn't remove these opt out cookies. All the participating networks provide an URL that tell you whether or not you have their opt out cookie. If you do, they will redirect that request to: http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_optout.gif http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_optout.gif Otherwise, they will redirect you to image that says you have their tracking cookie. You can subsequently use javascript to inspect the dimension of the image to determine whether or not you have opt out of that network.

kuahyeow 16y ago

Same thought here. I find it very bizarre that images are used in such a way. Here's one example of the image: http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_optout.gif http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_optout.gif http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_exists.gif http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_exists.gif

jdp23 16y ago

It's self-regulation, sponsored I believe by the Network Advertising Initiative. NAI is an industry group, analogous to the DMAI in the direct mail world. Most of the responsible advertisers work with them.

mukyu 16y ago

The FTC has been making noise about actually doing something. [1] There are also proposals to W3C defining a 'Do Not Track' HTTP header rather than cookies. [2] [1] http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/12/privacyreport.shtm http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/12/privacyreport.shtm [2] http://www.w3.org/QA/2011/02/do_not_track_at_w3c.html http://www.w3.org/QA/2011/02/do_not_track_at_w3c.html

buddydvd 16y ago

Here's the link to Network Advertising Initiative's opt out page: http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp When you opt out of a network, the participating network will assign you an opt out cookie. When you visit a website that indirectly loads these tracking pages, it will check to see if you have their opt out cookie. If you do, they will avoid assigning you their tracking cookie. These tools basically help you manage and persist the opt-out cookies so that when you clear your browser's cookies, the browser doesn't remove these opt out cookies. All the participating networks provide an URL that tell you whether or not you have their opt out cookie. If you do, they will redirect that request to: http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_optout.gif http://www.networkadvertising.org/verify/cookie_optout.gif Otherwise, they will redirect you to image that says you have their tracking cookie. You can subsequently use javascript to inspect the dimension of the image to determine whether or not you have opt out of that network.