- From: Luca Passani <passani@eunet.no>
- Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:11:10 +0100
- To: public-bpwg-comments@w3.org
Hello Francois, my developer experience is that some operators have deployed transcoding solutions which inject banners into third-party content (which operator themselves often refer to as "off-deck") regardless of the presence of a "no-transform" directive. I find this practice very disrespectful of other parties content and probably illegal in most jurisdictions. I would also have expected W3C to feel the same about this issue and I feel W3C should have taken the responsibility of explicitly stigmatize this transcoder behaviour in the CTG. The possibility of adding "no-transform" does not help much in practice for the following reasons: - operators and transcoder vendors in good faith will take extra steps (and there are quite a few of them) to avoid that users are not prevented from accessing a mobile experience in case one is available. - operators and transcoder vendors in bad faith will blithely ignore "no-transform" (just like they do with all other measures) and keep transcoding and adding banner ads at their will. In the second case, the only solution is to get lawyers involved, but this can happen regardless of the presence of "no-transform", which means that W3C is bringing no value to the ecosystem (except transcoder vendors themselves, of course, who now possess an extra selling tool with the W3C stamp on it). Finally, the biggest problem with CTG is the possibility for transcoders to modify the UA under some circumstances which will invariably be interpreted as "all circumstances we please" by transcoder vendors in every day practice (I have witnessed this happen personally). Once a transcoder spoofs the UA string (and make all requests look like they come from a full-web browser such as Firefox or MSIE), content owners won't know that a mobile device is there and they will be unable to serve a "no-transform" header (let alone serve the mobile experience they have so expensively built for their users). In short: NO, I am not happy with group's response to my comment at all. Thank you Luca Francois Daoust wrote: > Dear Luca, > > The Last Call review period for the Guidelines for Web Content > Transformation Proxies is over and we have not yet heard from you. We > were wondering whether you had time to review the responses to your > comments and the updated document, and whether you could let us know > if you agree with it or not via email. > > The header of the previous emails was generated from a template that > did not give us the opportunity to apologize for the time it took us > to get back to you. Comments received during the first Last Call > review period generated a lot of discussions within the group. > Resolutions of the issues took more time than expected. The group > thinks the document has quite improved as a consequence, apologizes > for the delay and would like to thank you again for your contribution! > > Thanks, > > For the Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group, > Francois Daoust, > W3C Staff Contact. > > fd@w3.org wrote: >> Dear Luca Passani , >> >> The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group has reviewed the comments >> you >> sent [1] on the Last Call Working Draft [2] of the Content >> Transformation >> Guidelines 1.0 published on 1 Aug 2008. Thank you for having taken >> the time >> to review the document and to send us comments! >> >> The Working Group's response to your comment is included below, and has >> been implemented in the new version of the document available at: >> http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-ct-guidelines-20091006/. >> >> Please review it carefully and let us know by email at >> public-bpwg-comments@w3.org if you agree with it or not before 6 >> November >> 2009. In case of disagreement, you are requested to provide a specific >> solution for or a path to a consensus with the Working Group. If such a >> consensus cannot be achieved, you will be given the opportunity to >> raise a >> formal objection which will then be reviewed by the Director during the >> transition of this document to the next stage in the W3C Recommendation >> Track. >> >> Thanks, >> >> For the Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group, >> Dominique Hazaël-Massieux >> François Daoust >> W3C Staff Contacts >> >> 1. http://www.w3.org/mid/48C78B27.8050601@eunet.no >> 2. http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-ct-guidelines-20080801/ >> >> >> ===== >> >> Your comment on 4.3.6 Proxy Decision to Transform: >>> Hi, I think that CTG should mention the fact that, in case of >>> transcoding, no extra content should be injected without the consent of >>> >>> the original content owner. The idea is to avoid that W3C >>> protocols/guidelines implicitly endorse the attempt by those who >>> manage the transcoder to monetize on the effort/investment of other >>> people. Of course, there is also a point that injecting extra >>> content will invariably affect usability negatively and as such >>> should be >>> avoided. >>> >>> I suggest the following addition: >>> >>> "4.3.6.3 Injection of external content >>> In its effort to optimise the user experience of non-mobile >>> optimised sites, a proxy *should not* inject extra content into the >>> transcoded pages, where the term 'extra content' refers to text, >>> links, banners and other multimedia content which is not available >>> on the original untranscoded page. Addition of links aimed at >>> implementing pagination and navigational shortcuts is admissible. >>> >>> Note: For clarity, it is emphasised that W3C does not endorse injection >>> >>> of third-party content into a transcoded page without the explicit >>> consent of the content owner" >>> >>> Can this comment be added to the tracking system? >>> >>> Thank you >>> >>> Luca Passani >> >> >> Working Group Resolution (LC-2090): >> The goals of this specification is to provide guidance to Content >> Transformation proxies and Content Providers as to how inter-work when >> delivering Web content. In other words, the guidelines are focused on >> defining means for the various actors of the delivery chain to >> communicate >> their intent and expectations. >> >> The details of how a Content Transformation proxy performs restructuring >> operations is out of scope of this specification. The notion of user >> experience is by essence vague, and one design may be regarded as >> providing >> a better user experience by some and a lesser one by someone else. >> >> The Working Group notes that alteration and thus injection of extra >> content is forbidden in responses served with a Cache-Control: >> no-transform. >> >> Content Providers who do not want their content to be altered in any way >> should use this directive. >> >> ---- >> >> >> >> >
Received on Monday, 16 November 2009 13:11:50 UTC