Re: errata for cookie spec

At 07:03 PM 2/7/97 +0100, Koen Holtman wrote:
>Matthew Rubenstein:
>    [Koen Holtman:]
>>>> Servers have no business sharing information without the user's consent,
>>
>>        Sharing info about customers is a VERY BIG business.
>
>Sharing info about customers without their consent is VERY BIG business in
>the US.  It is a CRIME in most of Europe.
>
>[...]
>> "Interdomain communication of
>>client state" between corporate entities is a hallmark of modern commerce.
>
>Not in Europe, it isn't.  Yet our marketing industry is healthy enough for
>my taste.  Let's just agree that we disagree about hallmarks.

        In the US, there are laws against domains, such as American Express,
sharing some info, such as a user's purchase transaction log, with other
domains, such as ad agencies, without the user's consent (or more generally,
without their knowledge). The postal carriers don't have technology to
filter out such communication from mail between these carriers, especially
as these laws may vary from state to state. As is ultimately the case in
most instances of privacy oriented "security" concerns, social engineering
(here, through laws) is the only engineering solution to the info
distribution. Net tech is the place for facilitation of communication;
censorship belongs in the courts.


>>The irony is that the Internet is not only driving the consumer centered
>>expression of this practice, it has become its most common symbol. And it
>>looks like the HTTP-WG wants to raise the costs (which get passed on to us)
>>of these techniques.
>
>The HTTP-WG is not wanting to raise these costs, the IETF has already
>decided to raise these costs.  The last call was done months ago.  It was an
>open process, you had your chance to make a difference then, but you did
>not.  If you want to make a difference now, write your own competing
>standard.

        My timing is indeed poor. I unfortunately have been unable to spend
the time to follow these issues as closely - I suppose that I will have to
live with the results. As for a competing standard, I have them now - URL
encodings, IIOP, etc. Perhaps I'll be able to revisit this issue when the
next revision of the Cookie spec comes up.


>[...]  
>> Her roommate must match Unilever's budgets to share Bronte site
>>user info with an associate
>
>...or write a free apache module and give it to those in need of
>hallmarks.

        Or publish on mimeograph, which she knows how to do, and will cost
her less - to reach a few hundred people with static text.


>>Matthew Rubenstein                     North American Media Engines
>
>Koen.
>
>
>
--
Matthew Rubenstein                     North American Media Engines
Toronto, Ontario   *finger matt for public key*       (416)943-1010

               They also surf who only stand on waves.

Received on Friday, 7 February 1997 13:43:06 UTC