nothing could bring me near

[erika]

Facepalming all over the place.

It doesn’t take much time on self-help-oriented web sites before one’s i.p. address is registered and tracked by something as innocuous-sounding as a ‘cookie’, and the person owning the computer is officially tagged as one of THOSE people—someone who is desperate for relief from a horrible condition, who is tired of the failures of modern medicine, and who is starting to wonder if anything will help.  Talk about ripe for the picking—and in no time, the spam e-mails begin to appear.

(from Opioids for Depression? on PsychCentral)

The sheer technical wrongness of this is of such a magnitude I don't even know where to start correcting it.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

That's not only technically confused, it's weirdly creepy and scare-mongering: don't go to self-help sites about depression, or you'll be "officially tagged" and ANYONE CAN KNOW you have depression and spam you!

Presumably we're meant to assume that PsychCentral is okay as it's a nice professional site with a doctor on board, not one of those dangerous self-help-oriented sites.

[erika]

Exactly! God forbid we go to those OTHER sites.

I seriously have no idea where to even start correcting this shit.

[rydra_wong]

Also, you know -- they're talking to an audience of crazy people! We don't need any extra anxiety, paranoia and magical thinking, thankyouverymuch!

Believing that you can't even Google a website on depression or EVERYONE WILL KNOW YOU'RE DEPRESSED and you'll be stigmatized forever is not the sort of thinking they should be encouraging.

[erika]

I know!

I just ... ugh. WHERE TO START? Maybe I'll make a list of the things he's saying and rebut them one by one.

Here's what I have so far.

[erika]

I feel the urgent need to correct your paranoid and mistaken "facts" about internet browsing.

First off, cookies are not necessarily linked to your IP address, anymore than anything else you do online is linked to your IP address.

Secondly, nothing can be put in a cookie regarding personal information about you unless you enter it into a website's form field. From Thiefware.com: Cookie Myths and Facts:

A cookie is a tiny record consisting of a domain that set the cookie, an expiration date and the name/value pair. The value of the name/value pair could contain any type of text information. Cookies are highly restricted by the browser and can't be made to compromise your computer. Cookies are simply text and nothing more. They can't execute like a program, nor can they be used to spy on you.

(emphasis mine)

Cookies cannot be sent to ANY OTHER WEBSITE other than the one that originated the cookie. That means that a cookie set by "yesihavedepression.com" (fake site) isn't going to show up at your bank's website, for example.

Cookies are in no way attached to your email address. Even your IP address is not attached to your email address! I have a really hard time imagining any way that cookies or your IP address could be used to spam you through your email.

Cookies most certainly are not "officially tagg[ing you] as one of THOSE people," any more than your browser searches or internet browsing would.

Finally, some common sense advice. Don't give your email address out to ill-reputable sites. Use your home computer to browse for sensitive topics, and clear your cookies between browsing sessions or browse "incognito" as can be done in Chrome or Firefox.

And please, don't believe everything you read. That was just scare-mongering of the sort I am surprised to read at PsychCentral.

Re: Here's what I have so far.

[rydra_wong]

*applauds loudly*

[cetkat]

I sent them an email...

"Hello, generally I enjoy your site. However, I was just linked to the article found here:

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/epidemic-addiction/2011/09/opioids-for-depression/

There is one passage in particular that concerns me:

"In other words, while misery argues for fast action, it also calls for caution against those who profit from desperation. And make no mistake—there are many people out there who profit from desperation! It doesn’t take much time on self-help-oriented web sites before one’s i.p. address is registered and tracked by something as innocuous-sounding as a ‘cookie’, and the person owning the computer is officially tagged as one of THOSE people—someone who is desperate for relief from a horrible condition, who is tired of the failures of modern medicine, and who is starting to wonder if anything will help. Talk about ripe for the picking—and in no time, the spam e-mails begin to appear."

1) This is blatantly inaccurate. Cookies do not have anything to do with email addresses.

2) Can you imagine the detriment someone who does not know this fact could receive from this misinformation?


There is enough worry about stereotypes surrounding having a mental disorder already and the real issues this does and can cause in one's life. Add to that the illness of paranoia, and display the above information.. you're practically saying that the person should avoid seeking out helpful resources should the person be "tracked" and discovered. This is incredibly detrimental to display on your site. That may not have been the point the author was attempting to make, but that is the one that is received. I urge to to consider this possible interpretation and modify the article to better serve your prospective audience.

Thank you."

[floatboth]

How the person is tagged and not the browser they're using? :D

Re: Here's what I have so far.

[erika]

And my comment did NOT make it through moderation.

[erika]

My comment didn't make it through moderation, so I'm going to write an email.

Re: Here's what I have so far.

[rydra_wong]

That's ... disappointing. Not entirely surprising, given the human inability to deal with criticism, but disappointing anyway.