MSNBC and cookies

Peter D. Junger junger at pdj2-ra.F-REMOTE.CWRU.Edu
Fri Jul 19 09:31:07 PDT 1996


Joel McNamara writes:

: In attempting to check out different Net media coverage of TWA 800, it
: appears the msnbc.com site won't let you in without a cookie.  Repeated
: cookie cancels with Navigator 3.0 drop you into an indigestive loop of the
: server continuing to try to force feed you cookies.  When you finally click
: OK, you get in.
: 
: Am I spacing, or is this the first site anyone's stumbled on that requires a
: cookie for access?  I've never been shut out of a site for canceling a
: cookie.  The first cookie request does have a user ID field.  If the server
: (or client) isn't misbehaving, this seems like a wee bit of a privacy issue.
: 
: I tried accessing the page (http://www.msnbc.com) on 7/18/96 around 9:15 PM
: PDT.  Anyone care to confirm this.

I can confirm it.  I never gave them the cookie.  Had one hell of a
job backing out.  I don't know what would have happened if I had set
my cookies file to be read only.

It's a nuisance, but I suppose there is no reason that a commercial
service can't do such a thing.  But what happens when one tries to
access it with Lynx?

I too am using Navigator 3.0 (the new beta with strong crypto)--I
wonder if people who use MS's explorer or whatever it is called are
faced with the same problems?

--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
Internet:  junger at pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu    junger at samsara.law.cwru.edu






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