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Privacy and Security


Information Collected for Statistical Purposes

Below is an example of the information collected based on a standard request for a World Wide Web document:

xxx.yyy.com - - [23/Feb/1998:00:00:01 -0500]

"GET /sitename/top10.html HTTP/1.0" 200 4695

Mozilla 3.0/www.altavista.digital.com

xxx.yyy.com (or 123.123.23.12) -- this is the host name or Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the requester. In this case, (....com) the requester is coming from a commercial address. Depending on the requestor's method of network connection, the host name (or IP address) may or may not identify a specific computer.

Connections via many Internet Service Providers (ISP) assign different IP addresses for each session, so the host name identifies only the ISP. If the computer has a fixed IP address, that address may still be masked if your request is routed through a proxy server. Most ISPs and company Web sites use proxy servers to route Internet traffic. The host name (or IP address) may identify a specific computer only if that computer has a fixed IP address and is not routed through a proxy server.

[23/Feb/1998:00:00:01 -0500] -- this is the date and time of the request

"GET /sitename/top10.html HTTP/1.0" -- this is the location of the requested file

200 -- this is the status code - 200 indicates the request was filled

4695 -- this is the size of the requested file in bytes

Mozilla 3.0 -- this identifies the type of browser software used to access the page, which indicates what design parameters to use in constructing the pages

www.altavista.digital.com -- this indicates the last site the person visited, which indicates how people find this site

Requests for other types of documents use similar information.

Please send your comments on this page to Information Management Service.

 

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Reviewed/Updated: May 23, 2000