Safe Cookies™ FAQ

What are Safe Cookies™?

The Anonymizer has traditionally disabled all cookies that remote sites attempt to set. The addition of Cookie Encryption (Safe Cookies) now allows Anonymizer surfers to safely enable cookies when visiting sites that require them. When Safe Cookies are enabled, any cookie that a remote site sets is "repackaged" as an encrypted session cookie from the Anonymizer. What this means is that cookies which would normally reside on your computer for weeks or even years are scrambled so as to be unreadable and "wrapped" by the Anonymizer so that they disappear when you quit your browser.

The "repackaged" Safe Cookie is never stored permanently on your computer.

Why is this useful?

Enabling Safe Cookies allows you to use sites which require cookies (such as Yahoo Mail) with confidence that

• no permanent trace of the site's cookies will remain on your computer
• any intermediary that might be examining your cookies cannot read them
• any web site that exploits a browser bug to access your cookies (for example) cannot read them

Who can use Safe Cookies™?

All of our ID Protection Suite and Private Surfing subscribers.

How do I use Safe Cookies™?

To enable it when you log in, click the "Safe Cookies on" button on the Members Login Page. You can toggle Safe Cookies on and off at any time while you are surfing via the "Control Panel" button on the Anonymizer bar included at the top of each page you visit. Safe Cookies are toggled on the Control Panel by the "Safe Cookies on/off" radio button.

Should I keep Safe Cookies™ on at all times?

Definitely not! Cookies can be used to track your browsing habits. Safe Cookies should be used only in those cases where you absolutely must use a service that requires them. It should be switched off as soon as you are finished using that service. Turning Safe Cookies off blocks all cookies from being placed on your computer.

Are there any disadvantages to enabling Safe Cookies™?

Yes. Aside from the obvious risks to your privacy, using Safe Cookies incurs some overhead in your transactions with the Anonymizer's servers. For various technical reasons, all encrypted cookies accumulated in a browsing session are sent to the Anonymizer each time you access a page. This can slow things down, especially if you're on a slow connection or are visiting sites that set lots of cookies.

How do I know that Safe Cookies™ are working?

Set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies. You should see a cookie set from the Anonymizer called Anonymizer_Encrypted_Cookie# whenever a remote site sets a cookie. In addition, you can visit https://www.anonymizerproxy.com/cgi-bin/show_cookies.cgi to see the contents of your encrypted cookies.

Why doesn't Hotmail work?

Because Microsoft has taken an extreme anti-proxy stance that prevents users behind many firewalls, cooperative caching proxies, and with floating IP addresses from using their service. This includes many AOL users and international users behind large caches. Feel free to read Microsoft's generic response to our inquiry. We have made several attempts to put technology together to fool Hotmail, but it isn't something we have gotten to work reliably as of yet. In the meantime, there are several mail services listed below that do work with Safe Cookies. Additionally, sending email to support_x@hotmail.com to complain might sway them, but we doubt it.

It doesn't appear to be working. What could be wrong?

First, check to make sure that cookies are enabled on your browser. If they are enabled, make certain that you accept the CookieAction=Rewrite cookie when you turn Safe Cookies on. If you have done this and Safe Cookies still don't appear to be working, see the next question.

Are there any known problems with Safe Cookies™?

A few. Some sites use cookies in an unorthodox manner and do not work at this time. One major problem is that many browsers only implement the minimum requirements with respect to cookie size and number. This can lead to very odd behavior if you visit more than a dozen distinct sites with Safe Cookies enabled, or if the sites you are visiting try to set inordinately large cookies. We're pushing the envelope with this technology so things can get a bit complicated.

Safe Cookies have been verified to work with Yahoo Mail, Mail.com, and MailCity. They do not work with Excite Mail or Hush Mail because they require JavaScript. As always, you can use ZipLip for web-based email that doesn't require JavaScript or Cookies.

Why does it keep resetting the same cookie (e.g., Anonymizer_Encrypted_Cookie0) over and over?

For various reasons (efficiency, browser limitations, etc.) we pack all the cookies from each domain (e.g., .yahoo.com) into a single session cookie. This means that any time the site changes the value of a cookie or sets a new one, we must reset one of your Safe Cookies.

How can I see the contents of the Safe Cookies™?

Go to https://www.anonymizerproxy.com/cgi-bin/show_cookies.cgi at any time. There is a link on the "Control Panel" that takes you there as well.

Why can't I get cookies from doubleclick.net?

The folks at Doubleclick, Inc. use their cookies solely for tracking your browsing habits. As their cookies are never used for anything "useful" (e.g., authentication), we disable them categorically. This is just one example of the many things we do "under the hood" to help protect your privacy.