# Dealing with the www **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [January 8, 2024, 6:35pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133 "2024-01-08T18:35:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 5:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/21 "2024-01-10T17:59:51Z")
> [@bing](#): > > I had to use my iPad to install it and then I could run the cable from the computer to the printer. You could have probably just run the cable from the computer to the printer, assuming it was USB. They instructions are probably minimal for mobile only users who don’t know what they’re doing. If it is a network only printer then that’s different. ---
**Author:** ![bloody\_knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@bloody\_knuckles](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bloody_knuckles)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/22 "2024-01-10T18:40:04Z")
The problem with everyone’s expectation on the internet is that YOU are the product. Every interface and app is designed to carefully gather your data and use it to market more products to you or to sell your data to people who want to sell more products to you. That’s it. Plain and simple. Websites and apps are NOT built for your convenience or to make your experience better. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 7:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/23 "2024-01-10T19:14:10Z")
Well I don’t know. I was pretty careful to buy a printer that allowed a hard cable from the computer to the printer, but there was no way to activate the printer without using Wi-Fi. Still it is nice because I can print from my iPad and also my desk top. At any rate been over a year and don’t remember the details. Agree with bloody knuckles though, I had to join the hp print group and they monitor my printing to tell me when I need to get their free ink. I don’t want their free stuff. I’ll go buy it myself when I need it so leave me alone. It wouldn’t surprise me if the have stored copies of everything I have printed. Clearly we need smarter people in congress that can protect our privacy better. Geese I couldn’t even buy a coke at the airport without a debit card. Wouldn’t take cash. So now visa has my info on my beverage of choice. I used it to pay the gun smith too so now waiting for a 6 am knock on the door. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/24 "2024-01-10T20:13:41Z")
> [@bloody\_knuckles](#): > > Every interface and app is designed to carefully gather your data and use it to market Apps are NOT gathering your data. At best they are gathering metadata looking for trends. They are NOT gathering specific data on you personally to target you. Most tracking is done through cookies. Or some companies like Amazon will track your buying or browsing history to offer items they think might interest you. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/25 "2024-01-10T20:14:57Z")
> [@bing](#): > > Well I don’t know. I was pretty careful to buy a printer that allowed a hard cable from the computer to the printer, but there was no way to activate the printer without using Wi-Fi. Your router doesn’t have WiFi? Your computer doesn’t need WiFi to activate the printer if the router has WiFi and you have a physical connection to the router. ---
**Author:** ![bloody\_knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@bloody\_knuckles](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bloody_knuckles)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/26 "2024-01-10T20:17:18Z")
You say potato, I say potatoe. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/27 "2024-01-10T20:36:07Z")
Printer has only a physical connection to computer, but the printer also has a Wi-Fi connection through the air. Since there is no physical connection to the router, ya had to use Wi-Fi to install it, then could connect the cable to the computer. At least that’s what I had to do. So it gets its print instruction both from the hard cable and from devices on Wi-Fi. Now my thermostat could only be installed with Wi-Fi. Cable to the furnace controller. At any rate gotta have Wi-Fi in this day and age. Just don’t like financial stuff zooming through the air. ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/28 "2024-01-10T20:42:05Z")
> [@bing](#): > > I had to join the hp print group and they monitor my printing to tell me when I need to get their free ink Oh is it one of those new HP printers where they require you to register the printer and sign up with your payment information for the HP automatic ink in the mail program before they let you use the ink that came with the printer? > [@MikeInNH](#): > > Apps are NOT gathering your data. At best they are gathering metadata looking for trends. In the grand scheme of things, what data is there that IS NOT being gathered by one group or another? The app will monitor the location information. It might want access to the address book. Most people use Chrome, and anything typed in to the address bar is sent to Google. Then nearly every site has some kind of tracking built in to the advertising. People use Gmail and Google scans all of that. Well probably none of the apps monitor call and text history, but the phone company can if they want to. I believe they have gathered much of this data together and they sell it with the user’s name substituted with an advertising ID. It would be really easy to change this advertising ID back to the person’s real name if they just know where the real person was at a particular time in two different places. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/29 "2024-01-10T20:43:27Z")
Yeah well that may be true, but if you use a debit or credit card, purchases are coded to the commodity. Certain codes such as gun repairs, ammo purchases, or gun purchases, have been of interest to certain feds. At this point visa and master charge have the purchases coded and may or may not be reported to the feds. I just haven’t kept up on the latest court decisions. It’s for our own safety don’t ya know. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/30 "2024-01-10T20:52:06Z")
> [@Mustangman](#): > > You can’t park at public parks and downtown in my county without a smartphone. > > Paid parking is not even handled by an app,… There is no alternative way to pay. A long-time grocery store in this area, the management decided to require the patrons to use a cell phone to obtain certain of their weekly sale-price items. Happened about 1 1/2 years ago. I immediately noticed fewer customers, especially older customers I had been seeing there for years disappeared. Last week the store closed. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 9:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/31 "2024-01-10T21:00:22Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > Then nearly every site has some kind of tracking built in to the advertising. As stated - that type of tracking is done through [cookies](https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/internetsafety/understanding-browser-tracking/1/). Remove your cookies whenever you shut down your browser like I do. Do you have any idea what it would take to monitor and store all the data of everyone that visits their site? I do. I’ve done it - for security reasons. It’s NOT trivial. And most companies aren’t going to spend that kind of money to do it. > [@bing](#): > > Certain codes such as gun repairs, ammo purchases, or gun purchases, have been of interest to certain feds That’s due to federal law. And it’s not the website that’s doing the tracking per-say. Where you buy the gun and ammo from is just brokering the data. You should see some of the tracking we’ve written in our telecom software used in other countries. Not allowed in the US. I can’t get into details. But the tracking is extensive. Some are collecting over a terabyte of data a week. Most is used to help solve and prevent crimes. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/32 "2024-01-10T21:10:33Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > that type of tracking is done through [cookies](https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/internetsafety/understanding-browser-tracking/1/). Does that apply even to websites that require you to sign on? I delete the cookie files frequently , but by the inserted adverts here, _Car Talk_ still seems to know which products interest me, like Harbor Freight products. I click on the adverts for those sorts of products sometimes. But for some reason they think I like to look at scantily clad shapely women too; I presume they know I’m a man and all men like that, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/33 "2024-01-10T21:15:12Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > Does that apply even to websites that require you to sign on? In general - yes. But any website you need to sign in (aka - Have an account with) is doing some internal tracking. What the cookies would be used for is tracking you when you visit other websites. Let’s say you have an account with Oreilly’s auto parts. And you then go to NAPA to look for spark-plugs. The cookie that Oreilly’s placed on your computer will have tracked your activity at NAPA and then use that information to show you specials on spark-plugs then next time you log into Oreilly’s. Thus the reason I delete my cookies. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 9:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/34 "2024-01-10T21:21:30Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > Thus the reason I delete my cookies Good point. Funny story. I needed a new pair of prescription glasses. I found a website that offered pretty good pricing (_Zini_ I think). Then I surfed around & I found an internet coupon for a 20% discount code on all Zini products. When I signed on to Zini to buy a pair, all the prices had gone up 20% … lol… Zini apparently was using my cookie files to determine if I had found a coupon code. I deleted the cookies, then I was able to purchase the product at the first lower price, and still get the 20% discount. ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/35 "2024-01-10T22:42:32Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > sign up with your payment information for the HP automatic ink Not true, for some reason new win10 had to start a user and password, to use from computer, but no automatic ink and credit card required. Wireless stopped working, popup after usb connection. Go figure! ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 10:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/36 "2024-01-10T22:49:54Z")
Do any of you folks refill your ink-jet printer’s cartridges? I started doing that a few years ago for the b/w cartridge, took some trial and error to come up with the best method, but haven’t needed to purchase any new cartridges since. The refill ink is inexpensive. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 12:28am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/37 "2024-01-11T00:28:53Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > The refill ink is inexpensive. Based on the cost of refill cartridges - Printer Inc is about $10,000/gal ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 5:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/38 "2024-01-11T05:57:42Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > As stated - that type of tracking is done through [cookies](https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/internetsafety/understanding-browser-tracking/1/). Remove your cookies whenever you shut down your browser like I do. Nearly everyone keeps them turned on. If you do this, sites like Yahoo Mail and Google and in some rare cases eBay are now wanting to force two factor authentication like sending to your phone number, possibly to an old number that you don’t have access to anymore, because you’re “signing in from a new device”. They really don’t like people removing their cookies. It’s also possible to track people by their IPv6 address, since IPv6 address are now per host globally unique. All it takes is one site to attach your true identitiy to the IPv6 address then everyone else can attach your activity from your IPv6 address to you during that session or more if they are sharing information between themselves. If you’re deleting your cookies after each session, all it takes is one sign in to an account like gmail to attach those session cookies to your true identitiy for that entire session. > [@MikeInNH](#): > > Do you have any idea what it would take to monitor and store all the data of everyone that visits their site? Advertising is big business! Only one copy needs to be stored for all advertising partners to use. It is well within the realm of possibility. > [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > > [@MikeInNH](#): > > > > that type of tracking is done through [cookies](https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/internetsafety/understanding-browser-tracking/1/). > > Does that apply even to websites that require you to sign on? I delete the cookie files frequently , but by the inserted adverts here, Car Talk still seems to know which products interest me, like Harbor Freight products. Just about every website that you authenticate to uses at least one cookie to identify your session after you sign in. The cookie is sent with every page view after that with a code that identifies you. Personalized ads are the result of having 3rd party cookies enabled, which is the default except for Apple Safari at least at one point. Cookies are resticted per site, so site A can’t access cookies from site B. To get around this, site A and site B embed content from advertising company C. Now you can be tracked through all sites that use company C. Disabling 3rd party cookies disables cookies in content embedded in web pages from other sources. This will cause personalized advertising that is derived from more than one website to stop working, for the most part. Sometimes they may still track by IP address or some other method. Youtube personalized content tracks users by IP address in addition to cookies. What you or someone else does on your IP address influences the Youtube featured content. This is why the “do you accept cookies” question on websites that originates from an EU law is really really stupid. The proper fix for this privacy issue is on the client side by turning off 3rd party cookies, and using a cookie manager to clear cookies at the end of the session except for certain white listed sites. > [@MikeInNH](#): > > Let’s say you have an account with Oreilly’s auto parts. And you then go to NAPA to look for spark-plugs. The cookie that Oreilly’s placed on your computer will have tracked your activity at NAPA and then use that information to show you specials on spark-plugs then next time you log into Oreilly’s. Technically that’s not how it works. Cookies are restricted to the site that they were issued on. Both both companies embed content from company C to get around this as I explained above. > [@MikeInNH](#): > > Thus the reason I delete my cookies. In most cases this is actually useless since all you have to do is sign in to one account to reveal your true self and then all the cookies from that session get attached to the real you. Actually they’re probably not this sophistaced but technically it wouldn’t take much to do this if a company like Google / gmail participated in information sharing with [doubleclick.net](http://doubleclick.net) advertising … well Google actually owns [doubleclick.net](http://doubleclick.net) so it’s not so unlikely that this is happening. Usually in the Internet world a lot more is happening behind the scenes than most people realize. The amount of data gathering and sharing Facebook is participating in far exceeded what people had imagined. If it is possible to do without people being able to directly detect it then they will find a way to do it. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/39 "2024-01-11T14:34:25Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > Nearly everyone keeps them turned on. I have mine turned on also. But when I exit my browser - they are automatically deleted. #2 - I use a VM for all my internet access. To the URL’s I visit - they only see the VM, and NOT my PC or anything of important. > [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > force two factor authentication like sending to your phone number, possibly to an old number that you don’t have access to anymore I don’t consider that a BAD thing. It’s added security for YOUR SAFETY. It prevents someone from accessing your account. > [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > Technically that’s not how it works. Cookies are restricted to the site that they were issued on. Both both companies embed content from company C to get around this as I explained above. No…that’s EXACTLY HOW THIRD PARTY COOKIES WORK. You should disable third party cookies. 99.99% of users don’t. Facebook and other social media platforms are not like the WalMart website. Social Media platforms are their own entity. ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133/40 "2024-01-11T16:13:34Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > No…that’s EXACTLY HOW THIRD PARTY COOKIES WORK. > **[What are Third-Party Cookies?](https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/hosting/technical-matters/what-are-third-party-cookies/)** > > Third party cookies are usually generated by advertisers to track user behavior. But how do these cookies work and what data do they collect? I believe the same advertiser must embed content in multiple sites for the 3rd party cookies to work. I’m not convinced that a 3rd party hosted image or such can read cookies set by the site that embeds it. I don’t have the time to dig in to the specifications of all this though. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133.md?page=1) [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dealing-with-the-www/194133.md?page=3)