Microsoft removes tracking code from MSN
Microsoft announced the removal of the code in a blog post on 18 August 2011, the same day that researchers published information revealing that MSN and three other Microsoft websites host JavaScript code that was capable of identifying users even after they had deleted their cookie cache from their hard drive.
The code, which was copyrighted in 2007, stored itself in a browser’s cache folder, and contained two separate methods of identifying users. The first method made use of a machine unique identifier (MUID) in addition to instructions on how to recreate the file in the event that the cookie cache has been cleared.
The second method included the MUID in an ETag, which was also stored in the cache.
“We don’t really know what they were doing with this information, but it’s not obvious what this explanation would be,” said Jonathan Mayer, a graduate student in Stanford University’s computer science department. Jonathan’s research brought the practice of these “Super Cookies” to public attention.
Read the full story over at: The Register.
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