Hasbro Monitoring Enworld?

[BrooklynKnight]

I recently downloaded a program that blocks out certain ip address (namely certain large companies) from tracking my ip via programs i use and sites i visit.

Strangest thing, I click unto Enworlds main page and i get an alert that hasbro was blocked.

Maybe its cause something is direct linked from the hasbro site on the pront page, i dunno, but i just thought it was..i duno. weird.

 

[Darkness]

Yah, probably links on the front page, about new releases and such...

 

[Umbran]

My first guess would be that the cover art images on the upcoming releases are from WotC sites...

 

[diaglo]

and the WotC site does use stuff (i'm not an IT guy) to track hits and use of its images.

minis, rpg book releases, and even novel covers linked to the WotC site i'm guessing would cause an alert for you.

 

[Zappo]

I guess that they send you a cookie through the images. It's a fairly normal practice, actually (though I still block them).

 

[Umbran]

I guess that they send you a cookie through the images. It's a fairly normal practice, actually (though I still block them).

If the software is blocking by IP address, I doubt any cookie would be required. Simply stop any and all calls to a url that leads to the IP address.

Here I show my ignorance - I can understand slipping a cookie call into an html document. But when EN World only references a JPEG, and does so explicity, can they then slip in a cookie as well?

I double checked the source code on the front page - yes, the RPG Product Schedule uses image sources on the Wizards site.

 

[pensiv]

You don't need a cookie to track HTTP Referrer hits on an image. If the images are hosted at hasbro, then they can easily find out where the requests are coming from, no need for cookies, just basic HTTP.

 

[Zappo]

If the software is blocking by IP address, I doubt any cookie would be required. Simply stop any and all calls to a url that leads to the IP address.

Due to the way TCP/IP works, it is entirely impossible to load an image without telling the host of the image your IP, unless you use a proxy or a similar router trick, but this is not the case.

Here I show my ignorance - I can understand slipping a cookie call into an html document. But when EN World only references a JPEG, and does so explicity, can they then slip in a cookie as well?

The cookie isn't in the HTML document, or in the image, or whatever. It's in the HTTP response. Basically, when you request a file (html, jpg, the content is irrelevant), the server doesn't immediately stream you the file and only the file. There are a bunch of HTTP headers, which may include a cookie.

 

[Umbran]

Due to the way TCP/IP works, it is entirely impossible to load an image without telling the host of the image your IP, unless you use a proxy or a similar router trick, but this is not the case.

This I understand. Which is why I thought that for simple counting and such, no cookie is required at all. Just log the number of requests and to which IP they were sent.

The cookie isn't in the HTML document, or in the image, or whatever. It's in the HTTP response.

For clarity - when I said I thought of it as being "in the HTML document", I meant it in the same sense that an image reference is in the document - a reference telling the computer to load a file. I assumed (apparently incorrectly) that it was simply another bit of HTML that they don't teach to those of us who don't need it.

Basically, when you request a file (html, jpg, the content is irrelevant), the server doesn't immediately stream you the file and only the file. There are a bunch of HTTP headers, which may include a cookie.

And the browser separates out the cookie and saves it as a text file for you? Hm. Learn something new every day.

 

[Angcuru]

Damn, I clicked on this link hoping to see a Piratecat Action Figure sometime in the near future, but noooo...