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Cookie Monster Monday 26th October 2009 Cookies are a part of everyday web usage that most people take for granted (indeed many users are blissfully unaware of their existence). Cookies are used to provide a persistent record of your interaction with a website, typically useful stuff like your account identification at an on-line store or your username for a webmail host. They can of course be used for less ethical purposes, such as tracking your searching activity across multiple sites. Because of their "dual use" nature, current European law requires that any sites using cookies make it clear to the user what they are being used for, and give you the right to refuse them. Modern browsers have various levels of privacy filtering to automate this according to your preferences. Currently the "right to refuse" is basically your option to not visit the site if you're not happy with the privacy policy. This is a bit of a fudge, but one endorsed by the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK (so an official government rubber-stamped fudge). Unfortunately the new proposals, bundled up with a number of other issues including "cut off" notices for suspected file sharers, removes the legal basis for the current pragmatic approach. The "right to refuse" wording is gone and there is a requirement for informed and explicit consent. Depending on how strictly this is interpreted it could result in annoying volumes of "Do you consent?" popups and the like. Ironically the Web Consortium had considered this issue many years ago, and attempted to promote a standard that would allow negotiation of privacy settings automatically based on your preferences. Unfortunately this died a death due to a lack of interest from browser vendors. Further complicating matters is the issue of "behavioral advertising", where adverts from various sites are tailored to your web browsing preferences; current implementations make heavy use of cookies and similar tracking technology. Privacy is an important aspect of Internet access, but it is important to balance it against usability. Informed consent is the way to go with any tracking method, but that doesn't necessarily mean hitting the OK button for every single cookie. The deadline for the law's passing in the EU Parliament is 14th December. Watch this space ...
Nik Barron - www.virus.org
The SmoothWall family of Internet security solutions helps schools,
enterprises and small/medium businesses to prevent misuse, block
objectionable content and protect against web related threats.
Delivered and supported via a global network of partners in over 60
countries, SmoothWall's commercial and open source solutions now
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