editor
Allegheny Almanac
It's December 18 and as we all know, Santa Claus is coming to town. And he's got a list that he usually checks twice so he knows for sure who's been naughty or nice.
Nowadays, he probably uses internet statistics to help him do it. It doesn't give him actual names and street addresses but it does give him what's called an IP Address, which stands for internet protocol address, the unique identifier for every online computer in the world, including the one you're now using to read this article.
He would need the help of elves from the FBI or CIA to match up your IP address to an actual identity and at this time data mining is considered illegal, unless a judge allows it. Usually.
He accomplishes this through the use of his favorite food, cookies, of course. On the internet a cookie is a unique memory device that gets deposited on your computer every time you visit an advertiser or a page with advertising on it.
It's enough to make you paranoid, unless you understand that Santa is benign. The tracking system set up by advertisers isn't meant to spy on you either. They just use it to give you advertising content they think you might enjoy.
Still, the more you surf on the web, the more cookies your computer eats and stores and if your hard drive is getting more obese than Santa, you might want to consider opting out of tracking from advertising companies.
It's easy to do and may even speed up your computer. After 10 years I know my computer has accumulated a lot of these and there's a limited amount of memory on every computer.
So how do you opt out from advertisers who would like to track your browsing habits? Just visit the Privacy Policy page. It's easy to do and there's even a short video that shows you how.
A Merry Christmas to All and may the New Year bring you happy trails.
image of Santa Claus is from a Victorian Christmas card that is in the public domain.
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