[thelist] mainstream press and cookies

[aardvark]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/03/20/cia.web.privacy.ap/

am i the only one who hates the way the mainstream press portrays web
stuff?  i mean, c'mon, i'm a fan of conspiracy theories, i look for black
helicopters, i turn off JS and sometimes kill cookies, but this is just too out
there for me...

statements like this:

"The CIA got caught with a hand in the Internet cookie jar."
[...]
"The agency removed software from one of its Web sites this week after a
private group discovered that the CIA was using banned Internet tracking
technology called 'cookies,' said Mike Stepp, who manages the CIA's public
Web site."
[...]
"Cookies are small software files often placed on computers without a
person's knowledge. The files can make Internet browsing more convenient by
letting sites distinguish user preferences, but they have been criticized for
violating privacy because they can track Web surfing."

i mean, i think it's keen the government is down with the idea of banning
cookies on its sites, i think that's great...

but i bet some client calls me in the next few days asking (again) about
cookies and asking me to kill them (having read yet another cookies-are-evil
article)... the effect, of course, rendering some features of their site (like
session-based shopping carts and user CSS preferences, among other
things) void -- even though they *knew* the cookies were part of the stuff they
requested...

it still sounds like the press just doesn't get it... it sounds like it makes good
news to whack the CIA for cookies... so play it up... make it sound
newsworthy...

hmmmm...

does that qualify as a rant?