Cookies are delicious to chew on whenever you are looking for a quick sugar fix, but when it comes to the world of computers, cookies are used to keep track of visitors over on the Internet to various websites, so that the site would know whether you have been there before. Having said that, AT&T claims to have finally stopped making use of a special mobile technology that has raised some controversies before, where it could be misused by advertising networks in order to keep track of online users – even against their wishes.
Up until the previous week, AT&T had continued the use of a unique identifier in web traffic that were sent by phones as well as other Internet-capable devices on its wireless network. AT&T claims that this was done as part of its test program, and it has stopped for now, according to AT&T spokeswoman Emily Edmonds.
Such unique identifiers are loathed by privacy advocates, and AT&T aren’t the only ones making use of it, since Verizon too, does use them, and there is no way for the end user to have them turned off. Edmonds shared further, “We don’t currently have a Relevant Advertising program in place, but we could have one in the future. It could be this exact program that we tested, it could be something else entirely.”
Hmmm, looks like this is not a guarantee that it will not be implemented down the road.
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