gm-volt.com site privacy?

[kns]

whenever i log out of the forum i see the message 'all cookies cleared.' this implies that further browsing of the site is not tracked.

however, when i recently posted a response to an article on the home page, without having logged in, the id and email address fields were pre-populated with my information. this implies that a cookie containing identifying information had been accessed.

please clarify this apparent contradiction.

thank you.

kns

[wishman]

I just tried this and it doesn't happen to me. I'm wondering if your browser is auto filling the form fields.

[Zythryn]

That would be my guess as well. Most browsers will, by default, save log in info for sites, or at least offer to do so.

[Krellion]

Logging out of the forum probably only clears the cookies for the forum itself and not the rest of the site.

Looking at Firefox's cookie list and limiting it to "gm-volt", I see six cookies that begin with "bb_", which are the ones it probably clears upon logging out of the forum. There are two other cookies that start with "comment_author_" that are the ones used by the article comments. Those two cookies are only set if you've submitted a comment to an article.

[kns]

thanks guys for the thoughtful comments.

i have 'auto form filling' turned off in firefox, have not told ff to save my credentials and have not checked 'remember me' on the gm-volt bb login page. whenever i attempt to post on the bb i am asked to log in.

restarting ff and viewing cookies before visiting gm-volt.com shows cookies present for both the bb and for the site in general. based on the site pre-populating the response form at the bottom of the article on the home page with id and email address, at least one of those cookies contains uniquely identifying information.

the 'noscript' addon for firefox reports that third party scripts that run at gm-volt.com include: facebook.net (i am not a member), googleadservices.com, doubleclick.net, scorecardresearch.com and google-analytics.com among others. all ad-supported sites use tracking and share data to some extent and gm-volt.com is no exception.

if i didn't think that gm-volt provides a favorable value proposition, i wouldn't use the site. however, the statement 'all cookies cleared' shown after logging out of the bb is misleading and, in my opinion, it should be corrected.

thank you.

kns

[kns]

are you suggesting that gm-volt.com is not abiding to their published privacy policy ?

http://gm-volt.com/forum/privacy-policy.php

No. Only that the statement "all cookies cleared" is misleading since cookies continue to be used.

KNS

[fishmahn]

Its not a cookie - its auto-complete. That's all stored on your PC, and I'm pretty sure it can be cleared. Not using FF on this PC so I can't look it up.

Mike.

[kns]

Its not a cookie - its auto-complete. That's all stored on your PC, and I'm pretty sure it can be cleared. Not using FF on this PC so I can't look it up.

Mike.

Mike, good thought however that feature is switched off and the cache is empty. KNS

[Krellion]

Like I said before, the forum software that gm-volt.com uses (vBulletin) has its own set of cookies that it uses that are totally separate from the rest of the site. The "all cookies cleared" message is shown by the forum software upon logout and only applies to the forum's cookies, not the rest of the site. The site owners/admin probably do not have control over that message being displayed.

There are separate cookies that are used to save the name and email that is used when you do a comment on the site's articles. They're used to auto-fill those comment fields to save time for you. Auto-complete has nothing to do with it.

If you're that worried about being tracked, why not just set your browser to delete all cookies anytime it's closed? Or get a plug-in or add-on that lets you monitor and white/black-list cookies on individual sites?

[kns]

Like I said before, the forum software that gm-volt.com uses (vBulletin) has its own set of cookies that it uses that are totally separate from the rest of the site. The "all cookies cleared" message is shown by the forum software upon logout and only applies to the forum's cookies, not the rest of the site. The site owners/admin probably do not have control over that message being displayed.

There are separate cookies that are used to save the name and email that is used when you do a comment on the site's articles. They're used to auto-fill those comment fields to save time for you. Auto-complete has nothing to do with it.

If you're that worried about being tracked, why not just set your browser to delete all cookies anytime it's closed? Or get a plug-in or add-on that lets you monitor and white/black-list cookies on individual sites?

Thank you. I understood your initial response and know how to deal with the situation.

I still believe that "All cookies cleared." could be misleading and that something like "Forum cookies cleared." would more accurately represent reality.

KNS