[IP] more on Sleazy Ebay doubleclick practices *and* thanks Eudora!
Begin forwarded message:
From: Tom Goltz <tgoltz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 15, 2004 8:59:12 AM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] Sleazy Ebay doubleclick practices *and* thanks Eudora!
Dave: I'm sending this to you, since your poster chose to be anonymous.
At 07:23 AM 11/15/2004, somebody wrote:
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....
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.
I too have been an avid user of this feature, and just happened to have
a "Saved searches" email sitting in my Eudora (PC version) Inbox as I
read your message. I have reviewed the content of that message, and
came to the following conclusions:
The displayed text and the actual link appears to match exactly in the
email I received. While Eudora for the PC doesn't include the pop-up
feature you describe, it does display the actual link at the bottom of
the window when you rest the mouse on the link. This link does not
include anything that could plausibly be used as uniquely identifiable
tracking information.
I have seen no sign of Ebay redirecting their links through
Doubleclick, which would tend to be very obvious on my system, as I
have my system set up to block ALL access to Doubleclick's servers. A
link such as those you describe would simply go nowhere on my system,
and this has never happened with Ebay, either in links sent via email,
or on links directly on Ebay's site.
Ebay does use Doubleclick as an advertising source, and the links that
load ads from Doubleclick's servers appear to include tracking
information.
Note that I have my email preferences with Ebay set for "Text-only"
emails, it's possible the behavior of the system changes if you select
"HTML".
Tom Goltz
(603) 594-9922
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