In 1992, restrictions against commercial use of the Internet were lifted. Since that time, more and more of us each day have been logging on, reading, responding, and buying. By removing randomness from your own online experience, you participate in making yourself an easy target to those who want to sell you something. This practice, combined with a database of the specific interests and buying habits of each visitor, makes an incredibly effective marketing tool. Big Brother Inside Another piece of the conspiracy was revealed this past January when Intel Corporation announced that their new Pentium III CPU would contain a unique identification number, specifically designed to be transmitted when the user is online.
Cookies add usability to a web site.
But cookies placed by one web site are meaningless to others. Since January, protests by privacy groups have granted users the ability to turn off this Pentium III ID number on their new computers. Some question remains about whether it will turn itself back on when the computer is rebooted and whether a computer might be tricked into re-enabling its ID number. This was one attempt. These techniques were taken directly to the center of American advertising, Madison Avenue.