Re: tracking-ISSUE-240 (Context): Do we need to define context? [Tracking Preference Expression (DNT)]

The point I made on the call I will put here just for the record.

We have, in the past, used context to distinguish “first party” and “third party” contexts, i.e. there are only two contexts.  (Well, perhaps also service-provider acting for 1st or 3rd).

If someone reads this definition of tracking and there is NO definition of context, they might understand

"the retention, use, or sharing of data derived from that activity outside the context in which it occurred”

as allowing data collected in “a third party context” and then used or shared also in a “third party context” as staying in the same context, and not tracking.  This is not what Roy writes below or what we intend, but, without a definition, it could be misunderstood that way.


On Dec 18, 2013, at 10:37 , Tracking Protection Working Group Issue Tracker <sysbot+tracker@w3.org> wrote:

> tracking-ISSUE-240 (Context): Do we need to define context? [Tracking Preference Expression (DNT)]
> 
> http://www.w3.org/2011/tracking-protection/track/issues/240
> 
> Raised by: Justin Brookman
> On product: Tracking Preference Expression (DNT)
> 
> The definition of tracking that was adopted by the group includes a concept of "context" that some members have asked that the text define more clearly.
> 
> Roy Fielding was the author of this definition, and included this language on context in the Call for Objections poll:
> 
> The above definition also depends on there being a definition of context that bounds a scope of user activity, though it is not dependent on any particular definition of that term. For example, something along the lines of: "For the purpose of this definition, a context is a set of resources that share the same data controller, same privacy policy, and a common branding, such that a user would expect that data collected by one of those resources is available to all other resources within the same context."
> 
> Alternatively, the group might decide that the common sense meaning of context is sufficient, as it more closely approximates a user's general intent in turning on the Do Not Track signal.
> 
> We will continue discussion of this topic on the January 8th call, but we encourage discussion of these (and other) ideas on the list in the meantime.
> 
> 
> 

David Singer
Multimedia and Software Standards, Apple Inc.

Received on Wednesday, 18 December 2013 19:25:52 UTC