A Web bug is a file object, usually a graphic image such
as a transparent one pixel-by-one pixel GIF (image), that is placed on
a Web page or in an e-mail message to monitor user behavior, functioning
as a kind of spyware. Unlike a cookie, which can be accepted or declined
by a browser user, a Web bug arrives as just another GIF on the Web page.
A Web bug is typically invisible to the user because it is transparent
(matches the color of the page background) and takes up only a tiny amount
of space. It can usually only be detected if the user looks at the source
version of the page to find an IMG tag that loads from a different Web
server than the rest of the page.
Although proponents of Internet privacy object to the use
of Web bugs in general, they also concede that Web bugs can be put to
positive use, for example to track copyright violations on the Web.
According to Richard M. Smith, a Web bug can gather the
following statistics:
- The IP address of the computer that fetched the Web bug
- The URL of the page that the Web bug is located on
- The URL of the Web bug image
- The time the Web bug was viewed
- The type of browser that fetched the Web bug image
- A previously set cookie value
CREDIT: This information was gathered from the What Is?
website where you can find the definition for thousands of the most current
computer related terms.
