Before you visit the Lockdown Corp. website by clicking on a link from this site, there are a few things I believe you should know.

Popup

At this writing, Whenever a link is followed directly from this site to www.lockdowncorp.com/ (or any of its equivalent hostnames, including lockdowncorp.com, www.lockdown2000.com, lockdown2000.com, and security.harbortelco.com), the Lockdown server produces an extra bit of Javascript code in the web page it transmits. The effect of that script, if your browser has Javascript enabled, is to produce a "crippled" popup window (lacking menu controls and status bar) which opens the page http://lockdowncorp.com/pch.html. The popup contains this text:

The "Click Here" link leads to a rather extensive amount of commentary and rebuttal, aimed squarely at the PCHelp website and its proprietor.

Tracking

The popup trick is accomplished by use of your browser's transmission of the "Referer" when it sends a request for a web page. Most browsers, notably Internet Explorer and Netscape, send this information with every followed link, by default. It reveals the URL of the page just visited.

A script or program, running on the Lockdown server, screens the Referer. It inserts the popup script whenever it spots key text in the URL which indicates you've come from a targeted site. (If Javascript is not enabled, you won't see the popup window, but the server is nonetheless "aware" of your Referer.)

Any website log may store Referer URLs as a routine matter, and many websites track Referers. But the targeted treatment of "pchelp" visitors suggests that Lockdown Corp. could be giving those visitors special attention in other ways. The same script that triggers the popup could quite easily produce a log of its own, execute network queries to identify the visitor's ISP, query the user's system for network names or file shares, etc.

Visitors whose IP address is fixed should know that any subsequent visit to the same website can easily be correlated with the any and all prior visits. Referrals from pchelp site(s) to Lockdown Corp. could very easily cause the user to be "tagged" indefinitely as someone who's been exposed to the information at pc-help.org. Dialup users will usually have a more variable IP address, but their ISP will remain identifiable. Cookies can enable tracking as well.

Naturally, Lockdown Corp has every right to treat its visitors however it likes. But I believe visitors to my site should understand that they'll be specially recognized (and perhaps specially tracked) by the Lockdown Corp site when they go there from here.

My advice, if you wish to circumvent Referer tracking, is to do any of the following:

• Manually enter the Lockdown address in your browser's Location line. This produces no Referer.
• In Netscape, disable the Referer altogether. This is done by adding this line to Netscape's prefs.js file:
       user_pref("network.sendRefererHeader", false);
• In some Mozilla-based browsers, you might try the right-click option "Open in New Window." (Reference)
• Unfortunately, there is no option to disable Internet Explorer's Referers. I suppose the information must be valuable to Microsoft; they prefer not to give users any control over it. (What was that you said about "choice," Bill?)
• If you're interested in having more comprehensive control over both incoming and outgoing transmissions of your browser, you might try a local proxy, such as Junkbuster or Proxomitron. But I warn you. Configurable local proxies, especially Proxomitron, may be seriously addictive.

Privacy

Referers are sent to any website, not just Lockdown's. This is a useful thing to be aware of where your privacy is concerned. Happy surfing.