Originally Posted by JadedTraveler
I have to disagree with this. I'll agree that banner ads are not true spyware. However they are not benign, friendly content either.
TribalFusion, as one example, has in the past served up links to malacious sites, such that if you click through a few layers you will get infected with malware. This is documented on malware investigation/cleanup websites, spywareinfo.com for one. Furthermore, TribalFusion does use tracking cookies, and it may seem innocent and even useful that the intent of these tracking cookies is to keep you from getting thousands of public service announcements, but why would anyone want to have an advertiser track which ads you have been server and have viewed?
The scanners don’t have a zero-tolerance approach to all cookies, but they are clearly biased on the side of caution. For example, you can select to always accept cookies from a site or URL if you so desire. When TribalFusion says ‘our cookies are benign’ and the makers of AdAware say “no, they’re not”, who do you believe, the people wanting to serve you ads, or the people wanting to protect your privacy.
You are mixing up a few facts.
CLICKING on a banner and ending up on a site that might offer spyware doesn't make the cookie guilty, you are master of your own mouse. Even if you block all cookies then you'll still get ads and you can still click on ads.
As for an advertiser being able to track which ads you have been served not being useful, you obviously don't work in marketing
I have paid for ads, and host ads for clients, and the one thing all companies want is to know exactly how many people have seen the ad, when it was and where they came from. For customers and web users it's a good way of getting an even amount of different banners instead of the same stuff day in day out.
Tribalfusion uses their cookies to make money by selling ad space, and adware makers claim cookies are evil because that is the only way they can really convince many people that "cookies are evil".
Cookies have been around since 1994, they were never really considered nasty until the term spyware was introduced, and spyware scanners came to market, in late 2001.