Hiding Information via cookie

[Oceanic7777]

What in a cookie might cause a certain page on a website NOT to display a certain paragraph on that certain page. Sounds confusing, doesn't it. lol


Example:

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Scenario 1 --
User 1 accesses agreement.html DIRECTLY, via the page's URL.
agreement.html contains the following paragraphs:

P1: "You agree to pay me one million dollars.
P2: You agree to return all equipment at your expense.
P3: You agree to abide by the Constitution of Mars."

User 1 accesses index.html, which places a cookie on User 1's computer.

User 1 accesses agreement.html via a LINK from index.html
agreement.html is now void of original P2 and now reads:

P1: "You agree to pay me one million dollars.
P2: You agree to abide by the Constitution of Mars."

(Note: The content of agreement.html is not important.)

-----------------------------

My question comes as a result of a company's website which reproduces a situation similar to the one written above. Agreement.html, in this company's case, is a service agreement, which, if a user accesses from the company's homepage, erases a crucial paragraph.

What might be causing this? If I delete the cookie placed from the homepage, P2 reappears.

Do you think this company is playing dirty tricks? Or has it made a genuine programming mistake; mind-you that this "mistake" might cause potential customers to agree a different set of terms.

I've asked my question here, before alerting the company to this problem.

Private Message me for the company's website.

Thanks!

P.S. The company is one of three authorized to sell US postage online.

 

[BabyJeffy]

Most probably they are checking the cookie value server-side and delivering different content depending on the cookie contents (or lack of).

Just because the file extension reads .html doesn't mean that the pages aren't being served using a program that supports server-side programming.

I would assume that their decision to deliver different content based on a cookie value is deliberate (rather than accidental). You might find that to get the cookie in the first place you have to have agreed to the paragraph that is missing. Then again... you may have indeed stumbled across a genuine problem with their site.

Jeff

 

[Oceanic7777]

Thanks.

The first apparent way to access the agreement is via the site's homepage.

The second apparent way to access the agreement is via the software this company installs on your computer; the software begins the actual ordering process.

But there is a chance you read the agreement BEFORE downloading the software and, subsequently, proceeding with the transaction.

I am no legal expter, and I know this IS NOT a legal forum, but this could present a problem for the company, I would think, because a user could use this "loophole" to bypass the obligations of Paragraph 2. (i.e. A customer could say she signed up in the understanding that she wouldn't have to "return all equipment" at her own expense.)

I almost did this, but then I discovered the problem.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to tell the company about this apparent problem, without jeopardizing the rights of customers who DID NOT see Paragraph 2; remember, though unethical, the company could "fix" the "problem" and claim Paragraph 2 always existed, saying the customer must have overlooked the paragraph when he signed up.

At least we have some sort of public record, now, on this forum. But oh well, lol.


Thanks!

P.S. This is a programming forum, but I chose this category because the issue involves cookies, in addition to legal matters.