ATLANTA -- WSB-TV is glad to have the opportunity to explain why you may get “spyware” alerts when you visit this site.

Most spyware-blocking software (Spybot, for example) will trigger an alert whenever it encounters any type of cookie. Unfortunately, these programs can't tell the difference between harmless cookies and potentially dangerous ones.

We need to use some types of cookies in order to manage the advertisements on our site. These cookies don't collect any personal information about you and are not a threat to your system. Their only purpose is to let us know whether you've already seen a particular advertisement or not, so that we don't show you the same ad repeatedly. (This should actually make your experience better - cookies allow us to limit the number of pop-up ads you see, for example.)

Some of the ad-related cookies we use include Avenue A, DoubleClick and Mediaplex. If you get "spyware" warnings for any of these cookies you can be assured that they are not harmful and are merely related to managing advertisements. That's something we can't avoid - we need to pay the bills!

You should also know that there are some nasty types of spyware and viruses out that are programmed to appear to come from a different site than the one that actually deposited them. If you are concerned about a particular spyware alert, please let us know and we will investigate.

WSB-TV assures you that we respect your privacy. Our reputation and credibility are extremely important to us; we wouldn't engage in any practices that would betray your trust in our station or Web site.