This is the recovered Machine Room from 2005. Please don't expect wonders. The look and feel of this site is nine years
old, and so is its code. Some of the functionality has been recovered while the rest of
the site is modernised and restructured. Watch this space!
I don't really think I need to explain cookies to the average Machine
Room reader. You're obviously worried about privacy, which is why
you're here.
The Machine Room uses cookies in one way and one way only: PHP session IDs. These are
large random numbers that identify you to the server, so the server can store your
settings and preferences across pages.
The data is
not held on your computer. Only the session
ID is. The data is held on the server's hard drives. The cookie just
tells the server which data block to use.
If you're not a registered user (or you haven't logged in), this
is temporary. The server deletes idle sessions regularly, and then the
cookie is invalid and useless.
If a third party looks at the cookie, they will not get much
useful information, as it's only a random number. No password,
username or settings. It's also only meant to be disclosed to our
domain, but many web browsers don't take these limitations to
heart. Unfortunately.
What do we do with the cookie? Nothing. Our PHP back-end issues
it, not the Machine Room. We don't track you with it, and we don't
advertise. And we're pretty big on privacy (look at the
privacy policy).
Can you use the Machine Room without cookies? Yes, you can. Your
session ID will automatically be appended to all the Machine Room
URLs. So if you're paranoid, (or behind a proxy that removes cookies
from untrusted domains) feel free to turn cookies off. You may have to
logout and log back in again.
For all you security-conscious people: the session cookie is
called
MachineRoomSessionID. It has a limited lifespan,
and we ask your browser to only divulge it back to the domain
machine-room.org (what your browser actually does with it depends
on it, its bugs, and its security vulnerabilities). If you receive any other cookie
from the Machine Room, something's amiss (note: the old cookie name was the default
PHPSESSIONID, which clashed with those of numerous other
sites, hence the name change).