Re: Cookies on Microsoft Explorer?

[David.K.Merriman.-.webmaster@cygnus.com, "shellback.com" <merriman@amaonline.com>]

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To: cypherpunks@toad.com, aeisenb@duke.poly.edu
Date: Tue Aug 06 11:14:00 1996
> Dave:
> 
> Thanks very much for responding.  Yes, MSIE3.0b2 does support cookies. 
>  I
> have several more questions based on your answer, if you have the time:
> 
> 1.  Does it ask you each time a cookie is sent?  Some sites send many,
> many cookies.  This would mean that you are in some instances constantly
> declining, even dozens of times.  Have I got this right?  

I have IE3 configured to ask me for permission to accept a cookie. Yes, 
some sites send (n!)+1 cookies during a session. If they send too many, I 
personally move on to another site, after sending them email (!).

> 
> 2.  Is "refuse-it-if-it-doesn't-expire" actually printed on the screen? 
>  I
> understand that some servers set short expiration times.  Does Netscape
> actually say, "tell us what expiration time you want?"  Or is it done
>  some
> other way?

Sorry for the confusion - the refuse-it policy I mentioned is a personal 
policy; there's no option (yet) to configure something like that in IE3. 
The only two things I've personally seen have been cookies with specific 
expiration dates (which I usually accept, if the date is reasonable 
[IMHO]), and cookies that don't display an expiration (which I refuse 
out-of-hand). It seems to be a compromise that suits _me_; YMMV.

> 
> 3.  If you can't automate, does this mean you have to refuse every
>  time?
> (This is, I guess, the same as question 1.)  Many, many thanks.

I can 'automate' to the extent of automatically accepting all cookies; yes, 
by not accepting every cookie, I'm obliged to make a decision for each 
request. One of the 'benefits' of being somewhate security-aware :-)

Dave

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