The Web Bugs Are Watching

September 5, 2000

The scare that was hitting the news wires at one time was the possibility of “bed bugs” - tiny bugs that lived in beds with no one knowing about them until bitten. Well with the technological revolution upon us those “bed bugs” have been replaced by “web bugs”. “Web bugs” are transparent and often invisible (although some reports state that they are the size of a period) elements that have the ability to track who is accessing a web page or e-mail. They can attach themselves to an image file (like a Word document or spreadsheet document) and when that file is sent through the Internet or e-mail, the author of that document can monitor who is reading the document and where the document is sent.

Thus far not many people are aware of this capability and thus the “web bugs” are not a threat to the Internet. The future implications of “web bugs” include monitoring releases that are sent out, in order to monitor the interest level. Additionally, they could be helpful in tracking the path of a confidential document and detecting whether or not there is any type of copyright infringement.

Thus far, “web bugs” have been known to attach with Microsoft documents, but Microsoft claims that any operating system can include the functionality of “web bugs”.