Re: ISSUE-115: was ACTION-141

JC, 

On Monday 05 March 2012 21:03:36 JC Cannon wrote:
> <Rigo>Next issue is permission control over time. If a user has set DNT=0
[...] 
> Rigo I really see this the other way. I would turn on DNT:1 to protect me
> from sites with which I do not have a relationship. If I want to disable a
> specific site from tracking me based on a setting at that site I would
> change the setting or logoff from the site. This is the same way that
> Private Browsing works. It doesn't prevent sites from identifying you if
> you log into the sight.

I see your point. We are having a really nasty conflict of rules here. But 
Shane repeats every other email that we shouldn't address the bad guys. If I'm 
concerned about a bad/unknown thing, I use tor and blocking tools. I believe 
there are use cases where you have a relation to a site, but want to keep 
information out of your profile. And I think this granularity is really needed 
and people are smart enough to use it. They do so now by selectively blocking 
stuff at a large scale. And that's the alternative, if we fail here. People 
will block it.
> 
> I actually find your scenario a bit vague as well.  You say "surfing" as if
> it is across multiple sites. Generally users don't set permissions at many
> sites where they may be browsing. If this is still something you want to
> pursue, can you provide a more concrete scenario where research sites are
> given permission to create profiles of the user such that they can ignore
> DNT?

Imagine you have kids and you have a relation to site medical.example.com to 
have the latest tips and tricks on growing pain. medical.example.com is a very 
nice site that has all sorts of medical information. You know they have a 
relation to pharmas and insurances and you already received some targeted 
advertisement on teething problems. Now you yourself have a serious medical 
condition and you want to explore that. But this time you don't want them to 
know its you and to watch you while browsing the site. medical.example.org are 
very reasonable people. They know that sometimes their viewers don't want to 
be seen to look at information. So they have implemented a second regime where 
the site doesn't remember preferences but also doesn't remember any 
interaction. 

DNT is your tool to flip between those states. The alternative is heavy 
blocking and tor. 


P.S.
Just as a matter of scientific argumentation: In PrimeLife, I created the 
assumption that a user has a certain territory where she lives online. The 
browser will bother you with questions when being new in your territory. Over 
time the browser will learn my preferences. The browser will bother me less 
and less and finally only bark for things that I really care for. So I'm a fan 
of site specific preferences. And those preferences (user control) may change 
over time. But this shouldn't influence our discussion.

Received on Wednesday, 7 March 2012 09:25:04 UTC