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A Web Site Mysteriously Knows Who I Am & Details About My Last Visit. Scary!
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<blockquote data-quote="PGB1" data-source="post: 1835823" data-attributes="member: 76746"><p>Hi All!</p><p></p><p>Basically, my question is how a web site remembers what you did last visit and figures out your name if no personal data is entered & history and cache are cleared.</p><p></p><p>The Details-</p><p>While doing my "favorite" task this time of year (comparing health insurance plans), I stopped at Humana's web site and looked at some plans. Later in the session, I stopped at some other vendors' web sites & explored plans from each. </p><p></p><p>At the end of the session I did my usual practice in Safari: A) Close All Tabs Except One B) Send that page to my home page, which is "About:Blank" C) Clicked "History" and chose "Clear History". D) Clicked "Develop" and "Empty Cache". E) Closed Safari. If I have been at private sites, such as banking, I'll also open Terminal and type "dscacheutil -flushcache". I did the above steps, without Flushcache after the session when I visited Humana. </p><p></p><p>Yikes!! ...</p><p>Days later, I went back to Humana and it said "Welcome Paul. Here are your last viewed plans" (or words to that effect). I was surprised and shocked that they knew me and the stuff I looked at last time. </p><p>(It picked my zip code as the one where the ISP's dish farm is located the first time I visited, but I'd imagine it got that from figuring out where the ip address is entering the internet. Lots of sites seem to do that part.)</p><p></p><p>I'm absolutely positive that I cleared history & cache after the first visit. That habit is in my DNA.</p><p>I also know that I did flushcache later that day, after moving around (lots of) money to the checking account so I could pay for health insurance. (An American tradition!) The computer had been restarted several times between Humana visits.</p><p></p><p>I don't have accounts with, nor have I ever visited, Facebook, Twitter or any social media sites. The closest I come is that I have A Google account & and Apple ID. Only my phone's Contacts list & e-mail are on Google and I've never used the Apple ID's associated iCloud (or whatever it si called these days). SO Humana didn't use any of these to back-door my information. </p><p></p><p>I know that I did not enter any personal information during my Humana visit. Today- many days later- Humana still knows me and what I viewed both times that I visited.</p><p></p><p>I'm using Safari 11.1.2, OS X 10.11.6 on a MacBook pro from 2006. The router and modem both have firewalls and my OS X firewall is on.</p><p></p><p>I tried looking quite a bit on line for how this invasion of privacy happens, but came up empty. </p><p></p><p>Q? ...</p><p>How in the world did Humana not only remember what I viewed, but figure out my name? How can I plug this "leak"?</p><p>The name figuring out isn't so bothering (I think), but how did it re-link this computer to my previous activity?</p><p>This is unsettling stuff, indeed. </p><p></p><p>Thanks For Educating me on this interesting mystery.</p><p>Enjoy This Day!</p><p>Paul</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PGB1, post: 1835823, member: 76746"] Hi All! Basically, my question is how a web site remembers what you did last visit and figures out your name if no personal data is entered & history and cache are cleared. The Details- While doing my "favorite" task this time of year (comparing health insurance plans), I stopped at Humana's web site and looked at some plans. Later in the session, I stopped at some other vendors' web sites & explored plans from each. At the end of the session I did my usual practice in Safari: A) Close All Tabs Except One B) Send that page to my home page, which is "About:Blank" C) Clicked "History" and chose "Clear History". D) Clicked "Develop" and "Empty Cache". E) Closed Safari. If I have been at private sites, such as banking, I'll also open Terminal and type "dscacheutil -flushcache". I did the above steps, without Flushcache after the session when I visited Humana. Yikes!! ... Days later, I went back to Humana and it said "Welcome Paul. Here are your last viewed plans" (or words to that effect). I was surprised and shocked that they knew me and the stuff I looked at last time. (It picked my zip code as the one where the ISP's dish farm is located the first time I visited, but I'd imagine it got that from figuring out where the ip address is entering the internet. Lots of sites seem to do that part.) I'm absolutely positive that I cleared history & cache after the first visit. That habit is in my DNA. I also know that I did flushcache later that day, after moving around (lots of) money to the checking account so I could pay for health insurance. (An American tradition!) The computer had been restarted several times between Humana visits. I don't have accounts with, nor have I ever visited, Facebook, Twitter or any social media sites. The closest I come is that I have A Google account & and Apple ID. Only my phone's Contacts list & e-mail are on Google and I've never used the Apple ID's associated iCloud (or whatever it si called these days). SO Humana didn't use any of these to back-door my information. I know that I did not enter any personal information during my Humana visit. Today- many days later- Humana still knows me and what I viewed both times that I visited. I'm using Safari 11.1.2, OS X 10.11.6 on a MacBook pro from 2006. The router and modem both have firewalls and my OS X firewall is on. I tried looking quite a bit on line for how this invasion of privacy happens, but came up empty. Q? ... How in the world did Humana not only remember what I viewed, but figure out my name? How can I plug this "leak"? The name figuring out isn't so bothering (I think), but how did it re-link this computer to my previous activity? This is unsettling stuff, indeed. Thanks For Educating me on this interesting mystery. Enjoy This Day! Paul [/QUOTE]
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