How dangerous are WAP URLS?
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As things turn out, they are not dangerous at all.
Often a link is just too long for a posting … particularly in the center column of this page, email and Usenet posts. Since I use Firefox as my browser of choice, it was a simple matter to install what they call ‘an extension’ that permits me to use a service in the United Kingdom that takes a long URL, writes it to a database and then passes back a shortened version of that URL.
You can then click on the shortened link just as you would a regular URL. That will send your request back to their database where it will be translated back into its long form and sped on its merry way to go fetch the page for you.
It is mostly just a visual convenience, but it does limit the problems of having a long URL word-wrap at the end of a line and end up badly copied and useless. That is a non-trivial aggravation. Moreover, since it can simply be clicked on like a normal link, it will often eliminate the steps of cutting and pasting a URL completely.
My best guess is that the WAP URL guys count the clicks coming from here to there and sell that information to anyone willing to buy it … most likely the folks on the receiving end of the clicks who want to know what is generating their traffic. ALL clicks on the internet, by default, carry information about what operating system and browser you are using, which IP address you are using and the time of the click. It does not pass along your name. However, anyone with deep pockets can learn that via ordinary subpoena. Then the courts will instruct your internet service provider to spill the beans about who you are and they will do it. Even the s0-called ‘anonymizer’ services are ‘iffy’ because there is no way to be certain who is operating them.
You’ll find the budding geniuses at Firefox have a whole slew of gadgets for prop-heads and ordinary folks, too. Take a gander over at :
Bill @ November 12, 2007