NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad

NNSquad Home Page

NNSquad Mailing List Information

 


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[ 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