HTML 5 Technology May Have Privacy Issues

HTML 5 is a hot topic these days, and the war between Adobe and Apple seems to be getting hotter every day. That said, one developer is worried that HTML 5 may expose huge privacy issues that end users will not be happy to hear about.

Samy Kamkar, previously known for crashing the MySpace website in 2005 with the Samy Worm, has created what he calls an Evercookie that snakes its way into your computer and gathers information about your browsing habits. Although cookies are a well known, legitimate method of collecting (usually innocuous) information about you, the Evercookie is not only hard to remove–it can be used to access some usually private information about your personal online habits, including emails, websites and the content that you upload.

The Evercookie stores its data in more than 10 places within your computer, and cleaning out your computer’s cookies folder will not get rid of it. Kamkar has made the HTML code available in order to expose the dangers or potential flaws in HTML 5, hopefully before the exploit is used by those with more evil purposes in mind.