ONLINE-ADS>> Cookies

Andrew Forbes (andrew.forbes_at_redbridge.com)
Tue, 1 Apr 1997 09:33:08 -0500

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richard hoy wrote:

>>><start quote >
>>>Well this whole cookie thing is beginning to come to a head.
>Ad Age reported this week a new cookie >standard issued back in
>February by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The
>tone of the white >paper is that users need to have more control
>over their cookies to protect privacy. It is frankly >pretty silly.
>The IETF, fueled by privacy advocates, are creating this illusion
>that all sorts of >secret and personal data is being passed
>through cookies.
>>><end quote>

I believe that it was Ed Yourdon who said that in predicting the future the
tendency is to overestimate the speed with which people will change, and
underestimate the speed with which technology will change.

Having made that observation, my prediction for the tactical future is that
the cookie issue is going to become moot. Within a year ISPs will be
selling (in real time) the identity of, and demographic information about,
their low end customers. By 'low end' I mean those folks that are willing
to give up some privacy in order to get the best price on Internet access.

Who needs to use an easily diddled cookie when for a penny (or less) you
can buy a validated ID (from the user's ISP) and then use that validated ID
to buy census level demographics (again from the user's ISP), and do all of
it in real time?

Andrew Forbes

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