NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Microsoft newly attacks Google cookie policies, but history reveals otherwise!
Microsoft newly attacks Google cookie policies, but history reveals otherwise! http://j.mp/wUoZ9G (This message on Google+) - - - In a new blog posting today, Microsoft piled onto the false "Evil Google is purposely bypassing browser privacy directives" meme: http://j.mp/wgqlap [ IEBlog ] ). Microsoft's complaint revolves around what are called "P3P" (Platform for Privacy Preferences) Compact Policy Statements. If you've never ever heard of P3P don't feel bad. P3P was (and remains) a little known and rarely implemented attempt to "simplify" Web privacy policies that had the real world effect of actually making these matters even more complicated for pretty much everyone. I've been critical of this approach since its beginning (for example, see my 2001 comments in: "P3P browser technology interprets privacy policies": http://j.mp/xXgHAS (AP / Lubbock Online). And back in 2010, the New York Times noted the essential uselessness of invoking (as Microsoft is doing today) P3P issues in the context of cookie controls for Internet Explorer -- "A Loophole Big Enough for a Cookie to Fit Through": http://j.mp/ygcLF7 (New York Times). So for Microsoft to start complaining about their IE P3P problems today as if they were revelatory strikes me as notably bizarre. As I explained a couple of days ago in "Google, Safari, and a Clamor of Cookie Confusion" ( http://j.mp/xGZRcT [Lauren's Blog] ), the reality of browser, site, and cookie interactions are complex from both technical and policy standpoints. P3P has never actually been more than a relative footnote all along, and has only served to make matters more confusing, not less. In any case, Microsoft's posting today, given what was already long known about IE and P3P deficiencies in these regards, seems disingenuous at best, and certainly is not helping to move the ball usefully forward regarding these complex issues. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org Founder: - Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org - 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 Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com _______________________________________________ nnsquad mailing list http://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad