Originally Posted by CCBill Paul

This is correct and just to further clarify: Affiliates will be issued one universal ID but they will still have a unique ID to each program which will be encrypted in the new style of linking code.

The new universal ID's have been formed to make things easier for the affiliates but the linking code will still be per sponsor. So an affiliate cannot just use a universal ID to overwrite any cookie. I hope that clears it up.