Tracking Data (was Re: [TCS] comments on 17 Feb 2015 editors draft)

Roy,

 

I am sure it is possible to rewrite the documents to remove references to
“tracking data”, but I do not think this necessarily improves clarity. A
developer needs to know what data his application should be designed to
discard (or not collect) when DNT:1, and the answer should not be “check
with your legal department”.

 

I think clarity would be better serviced getting the definition right. 

 

Your amendments describe it as both “data collected while tracking” and
“data that enables tracking”, so why not make the definition that.

 

How about:

 

Tracking data is any information that enables a specific user agent to be
recognised in different contexts, or which contains the user’s personal data
collected in other contexts. 

 

If we need a definition of personal data, here is a reasonable one from the
UK’s 1998 Data Protection Act:

 

“personal data” means data which relate to a living individual who can be
identified— 

(a)    from those data, or 

(b)    from those data and other information which is in the possession of,
or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller, 

and includes any expression of opinion about the individual and any
indication of the intentions of the data controller or any other person in
respect of the individual;

 

 

Mike