Hotel Connectivity Provider SuperClick Tracks You

saccade.com writes "During my last hotel stay, I thought it was a pretty strange that it took two browser re-directs before the hotel's Wi-Fi would show me the web page I browsed to. Picasa developer Michael Herf noticed the same the thing and dug a little deeper. He discovered: '...their page does some tracking of each new page you visit in your browser, outside what a normal proxy (which would have access to all your cookies and other information it shouldn't have, anyway) would do. This "adlog" hit appears to also track a "hotel ID" and some other data that identifies you more directly. Notably, I've observed these guys tracking HTTPS URLs, and of course you can't track those through a proxy.' Herf notes the Internet service provider, SuperClick, advertises that it 'allows hoteliers and conference center managers to leverage the investment they have made in their IP infrastructure to create advertising revenue, deliver targeted marketing and brand messages to guests and users on their network...'" Herf was on his honeymoon when he did this sleuthing. Now that's dedication.

I did a little "sleuthing" on my honeymoon

[Gothmolly]

But it involved chocolate sauce, melted wax, and soft restraints. What is this 'Herf' person thinking, signing onto his laptop while on honeymoon? Go get laid you nerd!

A true nerd

[MyNameIsEarl]

A true nerd would consummate his marriage while surfing on the internet and maybe writing some code while he was at it.

In Soviet Russia...

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, You track Hotel Connectivity Provider SuperClick!

Re:I did a little "sleuthing" on my honeymoon

[Joebert]

Cut the guy some slack, he was probably getting ready to print out some diagrams.
You know how the net is, distractions everywhere !

Re:The wise man assumes

[somersault]

A true paranoic wouldn't use the Internet at all.

Why not, if they're not doing anything illegal, or immoral?

They do, do they ?

[Joebert]

Are theese guys based in Soviet Russia by any chance ?

pardon?

[rucs_hack]

On his honeymoon?

wow, that's a relationship with a good start.

Re:A true nerd

[Intron]

Honey. I thought you said you were getting me pearls and rubies?

Not so fast..

[Kadin2048]

What is this 'Herf' person thinking, signing onto his laptop while on honeymoon?

Well, maybe he was logging onto Picasa to do some uploading...?

In soviet Russia...

[Zaatxe]

Hotel Connectivity Provider SuperClick Tracks You!

Oh, wait...

Re:A true nerd

[Your Pal Dave]

You call that a python?

Re:A true nerd

[Gzip Christ]

A true nerd would consummate his marriage while surfing on the internet and maybe writing some code while he was at it.

I tried to do that, but there's not much else you can do when you're in the middle of a really long fsck.