But good tools exist, and as many using firefox know, you can quite
cleanly surf, even if you allow some cookies. Cookie Safe, better
Privacy, and Ghostery are all examples of fine work being done in this
area.
As the spies heat up, anti-spies get better, and without much trouble,
you can be quite inconspicuous. I forsee this extending into the future
ad infinitum.
Dan Gillmor wrote:
Jeff's interview skates past the real issue in online privacy: the third-party tracking mechanisms that are cross-site and increasingly pervasive.
I have absolutely no problem with the Washington Post setting a cookie for the Washington Post website. Totally fine. That feels like a legitimate tradeoff to me, because a) it's fully transparent and b) the site won't work if I block the cookie. It's when the Post and its business partners start tracking me across multiple domains that I have the problem, and it's the issue Congress has basically ducked.
Jeff cites Acxiom, which has vast amounts of personal information about people, as an example of why this isn't new. In one way that's true, but Acxiom and its competitors are not my idea of companies that make the case for further eroding privacy; I wish Congress would legislate to force the Acxioms of this world to stop doing a lot of what they do. But the Internet does add something to the equation: Acxiom doesn't track my every move around town or the mall, keeping records of everything I look at, not just purchase. The third-party cookie folks do precisely that.
When Jeff says, "Simple, then: turn off cookies," he's being disingenuous. It's incredibly difficult to get rid of some of these trackers, much less manage them. The worst aren't traditional cookies in the first place; they're other technologies, typically designed to obfuscate their presence, and new ones literally cannot be removed without major effort, if at all. Why all the subterfuge by the online tracking companies if this is so benign? There is no legitimate purpose for a lot of this behavior except to thwart users' privacy desires.
The legislation to date is lame and probably counter-productive. But since the industry flatly refuses to treat this in the serious way it deserves, we'll have to ask our legislators to step in.
[ I do agree that "turn off cookies" is an overly simplistic prescription, given
that so much just won't work without cookies enabled, and there are "tokens"
other than traditional cookies that can perform similar functions (Google Chrome
browser now lets you easily get at some of those if you want to delete them,
but you do need to understand what you're doing.)
-- Lauren Weinstein
NNSquad Moderator ]
- - -
On May 12, 2011, at 9:21 AM, nnsquad-request@nnsquad.org wrote:
NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
http://www.nnsquad.org
Today's Topics:
1. Jeff Jarvis' online WashPost interview today regarding
"Do-Not-Track" (Lauren Weinstein)
2. Library of Congress launches historical recordings "National
Jukebox" site (Lauren Weinstein)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 20:24:24 -0700
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
Subject: [ NNSquad ] Jeff Jarvis' online WashPost interview today
regarding "Do-Not-Track"
To: nnsquad@nnsquad.org
Message-ID: 20110512032424.GB2208@vortex.com"><20110512032424.GB2208@vortex.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Jeff Jarvis' online WashPost interview today regarding "Do-Not-Track"
Jeff conducted an online interview today on the Washington Post site
regarding Do-Not-Track and related issues. He strongly opposes
do-not-track, and obviously I agree with him on this topic. The
interview makes for very interesting reading:
http://j.mp/kGP6we (Washington Post)
Reference: "Do-Not-Track, Doctor Who, and a Constellation of
Confusion" (White Paper): http://j.mp/kklr7o (Lauren's Blog)
April 30, 2011
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://j.mp/laurenbuzz
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 20:55:36 -0700
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
Subject: [ NNSquad ] Library of Congress launches historical
recordings "National Jukebox" site
To: nnsquad@nnsquad.org
Message-ID: 20110512035536.GA3138@vortex.com"><20110512035536.GA3138@vortex.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Library of Congress launches historical recordings "National Jukebox" site
Fantastic. Go and listen:
http://j.mp/khNKXb (Library of Congress)
So old and wonderful that the RIAA can't stop them.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://j.mp/laurenbuzz
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
End of nnsquad Digest, Vol 5, Issue 188
***************************************
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