Alta Vista caches queries
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Here's one more reason to worry about the implications of web search engines: I just stopped in on Digital's new Alta Vista page, and was surprised to find that the query field was filled in--with a search I ran 3 or 4 days ago. I doublechecked my end pretty thoroughly (scrubbing all the files that Netscape 2.0b3 [Mac] generates--caches, global history, etc., and eventually reinstaling Netscape from scratch). And it look an awful lot like Alta Vista cached by query according to my IP address. Maybe dynamically assigned IPs ain't such a bad idea after all... Hieronymous -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQBVAwUBMNoVRb3g0mNE55u1AQEWxAIAiknajMTLiPzKxl4Wz3hoJsE4ntsXQJiV zNoz9LAW16+7+oFKKPwcjQCTi7heMstT9dP0GjCHmYuCl2cFcmQRbQ== =HQ12 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
"Hieronymous" == Anonymous <nobody@REPLAY.COM> writes:
Hieronymous> Here's one more Hieronymous> reason to worry about the implications of web search Hieronymous> engines: I just stopped in on Digital's new Alta Hieronymous> Vista page, and was surprised to find that the query Hieronymous> field was filled in--with a search I ran 3 or 4 days Hieronymous> ago. I see no evidence whatsoever that caching is taking place. The Alta Vista robot browsed the web site I manage for months prior to public release, and behaved in exemplary fashion. In short, they appear to be managed by people who know what they're doing. There's nothing sinister about Alta Vista IMHO. Furthermore, no one has mentioned the positive changes made to Dejanews since it got bashed thoroughly on this list a few weeks ago. They've significantly turned down the amount of old information indexed, and have restricted the groups (and mailing lists) they archive. -- steve@miranova.com baur
In article <199512220220.DAA27203@utopia.hacktic.nl> nobody@REPLAY.COM (Anonymous) writes: nobody> I just stopped in on Digital's new Alta Vista page, and was nobody> surprised to find that the query field was filled in--with a nobody> search I ran 3 or 4 days ago. The forms interface for Alta Vista uses METHOD="GET", which means the parameters for the query are encoded in the URL, not transmitted separately as it would be for METHOD="POST". For example, a search for "cypherpunks" sends a request for the URL http://www.altavista.digital.com\ /cgi-bin/query?what=web&q=cypherpunks&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0&pg=q If I bookmark that URL and return to it later, Alta Vista will rerun the query just as it did the first time (btw, the first two hits from that search are detweiler pages). On several visits to http://www.altavista.digital.com/ I see no evidence that they are caching queries, so I suspect you cached the query yourself by bookmarking a search result. Of course, this does not mean that one shouldn't have the usual privacy concerns that apply to any WWW service...
participants (3)
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Daniel S. Riley -
nobody＠REPLAY.COM -
steve＠miranova.com