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pendragon · Dec 30, 2005, 07:36 AM

According to the AP: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051229/...agency_privacy

"The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them..."

I am not interested in starting a discussion re the propriety, efficacy, morality, or legitimacy of the act, but merely in removing the cookies.

I just wanna know the names of the cookies so I may remove them (without deleting all cookies due to expire in 2035).

Maflynn · Dec 30, 2005, 08:15 AM

AFAIK the cookies were placed there by visiting the NSA's website so if you haven't been there don't worry about it but if you had, just delete all of your cookies.

chabig · Dec 30, 2005, 10:21 AM

This is no big deal. Nearly ALL websites put cookies on your computer. The AP is trying to blow this up into something big, but it's nothing.

Chris

rjenkinson · Dec 30, 2005, 10:27 AM

just delete cookies for domains you don't recognize.

-r.

clam2000 · Dec 30, 2005, 10:29 AM

If you're interested in removing the cookies (though there really isn't much of a point as the previous poster have said) you can download a program like "safari cookie cutter" and remove all cookies which come from the nsa.gov domain

the most the cookies can do is tell the nsa about previous visit's you've made to their website

pendragon · Dec 30, 2005, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by clam2000

If you're interested in removing the cookies (though there really isn't much of a point as the previous poster have said) you can download a program like "safari cookie cutter" and remove all cookies which come from the nsa.gov domain

the most the cookies can do is tell the nsa about previous visit's you've made to their website

Safari Cookie Cutter did the trick. Thanks very much for the recommendation. I think Safari Cookie Cutter will come in very handy--a dandy piece of freeware.

chabig · Dec 30, 2005, 11:14 AM

I don't see what Safari Cookie Cutter does that you can't do in Safari.

Chris

madmacgames · Dec 30, 2005, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by chabig

I don't see what Safari Cookie Cutter does that you can't do in Safari.

Most importantly, IMO, it has a search. If you have alot of cookies, the Safari cookie manager is painful at best to go through trying to find specific cookies.

You can also edit cookies (could be handy for web dev).

It also has a cool white list that you can add cookies to that won't be deleted... so if you've got some sites that you don't want to remove the cookies for (oh say like MacNN Forums), you can white list those sites and then remove all cookies without loosing the ones you want to keep.

You can do some other things as wel, but at least those 3, Safari won't let you do. The Safari cookie manager would be quite a bit more useful if it at least had a search.

ghporter · Dec 30, 2005, 11:29 AM

In Firefox NSA set two cookies called CFTOKEN and CFID, both tied to the NSA.gov domain. You should be able to delete them with Safari's own tools.

Here is what my cookies contained:
Name: CFTOKEN
Content: <8 digit decimal number>
Host: www.nsa.gov
Path: /
Send For: Any type of connection
Expires: Sunday, December 09, 2035 8:59:40 PM

Name: CFID
Content <5 digit decimal number>
Host: www.nsa.gov
Path: /
Send For: Any type of connection
Expires: Sunday, December 09, 2035 8:59:40 PM

Note that these are just "has visited" cookies, nothing more, and that the problem with them is that they use a very long expiration time-30 years! According to NSA, these cookies were set this way because they upgraded their server software and failed to pay attention to the default setting for cookie lifetime.

madmacgames · Dec 30, 2005, 11:32 AM

Amazon.com as well as several other sites also set cookies for 30 years. No need to run around terrified because the NSA does it too.

Frankly I'd be a bit more concerned about why amazon.com would need to set a cookie for 30 years than why the NSA would.

Maflynn · Dec 30, 2005, 11:36 AM

Everyone is neglecting the larger issue:
The NSA is using satellites to read and control people's mind.

The only way to avoid this is to fashion hats out of aluminum foil.

chabig · Dec 30, 2005, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by madmacgames

Most importantly, IMO, it has a search.

I must be dense this morning. Where is the search feature of Safari Cookie Cutter? I still don't see it.

Chris

madmacgames · 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by chabig

I must be dense this morning. Where is the search feature of Safari Cookie Cutter? I still don't see it.

Chris

Opps.. sorry my bad. I meant Cookies Eater. Just searched and all I can find about "Safari Cookie Cutter" are actual cookie cutters of safari animals. I can't find any software under that title. I did find this article titled "cookie cutter" that is about Cookies Eater, so I thought that might be the software that was being talked about, since it was all that google turned up.

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macg...ater/index.php

rjenkinson · Dec 30, 2005, 02:10 PM

when looking for software, use versiontracker or macupdate, not google.

-r.