the Mind’s Chew Toy

While updating the site today (Yes, it’s another new theme–more about that later), I noticed that in between clicks my browser was going to somewhere totally new - dg.specificclick.net.

What Is This?

Surprised, I tried going straight to dg.specificclick.net (and specificclick.net and dg.net), thinking it was a popup ad or something…and got nothing - just a blank page. Empty pages are usually a bad sign, and tell me the publisher doesn’t want to advertise about his product - whatever it may be. Concerned now, I took off for Google.com.

When I googled about it, I discovered it’s a new cookie being installed by SiteMeter.com - the free stat system I was using to track visitors to the site.

It turns out this new cookie is being used by SiteMeter to follow people who visit SiteMeter-tracked websites and find out where they surf - basically, a net spy.

Why, SiteMeter, why?

There are lots of free visitor stat sites out there, and none of those use this creepy cookie. And it’s not like SiteMeter needs the money - they’ve got lots of people paying for their advanced stat system. It just doesn’t make any sort of business sense - and it’s going to cost them a lot of customers.

Me included.

So, How Do You Fix This?

1. Remove the cookie from your browser via the instructions on The Best Things In Life: Free’s post So-long to Site Meter You Wont Be Missed
2. If you are unfortunate enough to have SiteMeter watching your stats (like I did), remove it immediately and switch to something else (I choose Google Analytics - we’ll see how that goes).

Not too complicated, at least, to remove it - that’s a plus.

But still, a nuisance that will keep me away from SiteMeter from now on - and that’s coming from someone who’s been using their visitor stats off and on for 6 years.

Oh, and I know this isn’t really a “Web Goody” - but I couldn’t figure out what other category to put it in. If you know of a better category name, let me know!