Jargons of Info Tech industry

[Brendan Guild]

Gordon Burditt wrote in
news:11ktbum1ira9le4 at corp.supernews.com: 

> Does the language allow Javascript to open a new window?  Does the
> language allow Javascript to trigger a function when a window is
> closed?  I believe the answer to both questions is YES.  Then it
> is possible to have a page that pops up two windows whenever you
> close one.

This was a problem, but modern browsers implement Javascript in such a 
way that it requires permission from the user before it will open a new 
window.

> If it can reveal my email address to any web site, it's a bug.  If
> it can access or alter my personal files or address book, it's a
> bug.  If it can generate hits on web sites other than that specified
> in the HTML, it's a bug.  If it can open sockets, it's a bug.
> If it can look at or set cookies stored on my system, it's a bug.
> If it can look at or alter the list of previously visited URLs, it's
> a bug.

All of those things seem like major problems except the bit about 
cookies. What possible harm can reading and setting cookies do? I had 
always thought they were carefully and successfully designed to be 
harmless. That's not personal information in your cookies. That 
information is set by websites for the sole purpose of being read by 
websites. Plus, I'm pretty sure that browsers have always allowed us to 
disable cookies.