(11-24-2007) You know those "zombie" programs that send spam from unsuspecting computer owners machines? Why doesn't someone design an anti-spam robot, which would auto-click or auto-respond to all the spam, with false credit card numbers, false orders, false sales?
Another idea for privacy advocates, rather than try to "mask" or "delete" website info from our PCs, why don't we do what nature does... Not invisibility, but "camouflage". A "cookie camouflage" program would install cookies and html records from everywhere. It would indicate we all buy tobacco online, we all drink, are all shopping for a new car, we all visit porn sites, we all do everything any privacy harvesting program would look for. If enough people ran the "cookie camouflage" program, the data would become useless.
I came up with these 2 ideas about 8 or 9 years ago, in Boston, and thought someone smarter than me would have done them by now. Maybe it's a dumb idea and I am not smart enough to understand why. Would not be the first time.
[ This topic was updated in 2010. 5 or 6 months after this post, CNET covered a program to do just what is described - Antiphorm. In 2011, I've scoured the internet (well, 2-3 google pages worth) and have not been able to find the program. It's like Jason Bourne. We'll see if the CNET article disappears, and then if I disappear. Actually, Jason Bourne was all about covering his tracks, not re-crossing his tracks to make duplicates. Why internet privacy is so centered on erasing rather than "poisoning the well" with false leads? Sometimes, I think that the threat to law enforcement, Google ads, Bing, and the Chinese Communist Party make it too costly to pursue. Sometimes, I think we just don't care as much about our web privacy as we think we do. If anyone can find a place to download antiphorm or similar "cookie camouflage" program, please post it here. Postscript 9-21-2011 ]
Another idea for privacy advocates, rather than try to "mask" or "delete" website info from our PCs, why don't we do what nature does... Not invisibility, but "camouflage". A "cookie camouflage" program would install cookies and html records from everywhere. It would indicate we all buy tobacco online, we all drink, are all shopping for a new car, we all visit porn sites, we all do everything any privacy harvesting program would look for. If enough people ran the "cookie camouflage" program, the data would become useless.
I came up with these 2 ideas about 8 or 9 years ago, in Boston, and thought someone smarter than me would have done them by now. Maybe it's a dumb idea and I am not smart enough to understand why. Would not be the first time.
[ This topic was updated in 2010. 5 or 6 months after this post, CNET covered a program to do just what is described - Antiphorm. In 2011, I've scoured the internet (well, 2-3 google pages worth) and have not been able to find the program. It's like Jason Bourne. We'll see if the CNET article disappears, and then if I disappear. Actually, Jason Bourne was all about covering his tracks, not re-crossing his tracks to make duplicates. Why internet privacy is so centered on erasing rather than "poisoning the well" with false leads? Sometimes, I think that the threat to law enforcement, Google ads, Bing, and the Chinese Communist Party make it too costly to pursue. Sometimes, I think we just don't care as much about our web privacy as we think we do. If anyone can find a place to download antiphorm or similar "cookie camouflage" program, please post it here. Postscript 9-21-2011 ]
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