How do I see the actual CONTENTS of any given cookies stored in FireFox?
(I am on a Mac and have FireFox v20.0)
My end goals are…
[INDENT]1.) To know WHAT information cookies are storing?
2.) If a given cookie is storing SENSITIVE INFO it shouldn’t be.
3.) To determine if a given cookie is ENCRYPTED or PLAIN TEXT.[/INDENT]
Thanks,
Debbie
All cookies are plain text. They are only encrypted when being sent via HTTPS.
Firebug’s cookie tab/panel will be able to show you each cookie and their contents.
Most cookies just contain various site preferences and a session ID of some sort.
I thought that you could encrypt a cookie before it gets sent? (Just like encrypting a file.)
Debbie
Not sure that I understand you…
Most cookies just contain various site preferences and a session ID of some sort.
My fear is that my new AT&T Wireless plan might be storing some sensitive info about me in plain text in cookies, and so I want to see what is in them to be sure. (It seems in the past that I viewed cookies on my old Windows PC that looked like my resume?!) 
For all I know, they could be storing my Name, Home Address, Tele #, and so on in cookies that others could end up seeing either “in transit” OR if they ever got on to my computer (e.g. Computer Repair person) or some other scenario?! :-/
Debbie
If you use FF, simply go to Options > Privacy and you’ll see a link that reads “delete cookies manually” (or similar, my own FF is in Spanish and I’m doing a direct translation)
That will open a new panel where you can look to every single cookie one by one.
In IE you’ll have to go the corresponding foler (you could that with every single browser, though).
Check if AT&T is storing private data… but remember that if they are is becase they already have that information is because they already have it. They can’t get that from your computer because the browser can’t get it by itself. Browsers are sandboxed in terms of what they can do. They can only provide infomration about the resolution of your monitor, the number and depth of colors, the browser and its version and things like that.
I assumed your question was a web development question. Firebug is a browser plugin that offers up all sorts of tools for debugging and developing websites.
Can someone verify if I am doing this correctly on OS-X…
Command ,
Privacy
Show Cookies
<navigate to site cookie>
<expand list>
<look in "Content" field for any problematic data>
Check if AT&T is storing private data… but remember that if they are is becase they already have that information is because they already have it. They can’t get that from your computer because the browser can’t get it by itself. Browsers are sandboxed in terms of what they can do. They can only provide infomration about the resolution of your monitor, the number and depth of colors, the browser and its version and things like that.
The could be inserting my AT&T Account Info (e.g. Name, Address, Tele #, etc) in a cookie when they have no business doing that…
Debbie