Re: Issue for discussion on Wed

Sounds good, David. I think we're mostly in agreement here.


I thought that a router was initially considered a UA for the purposes of
the spec, although our more recent definitions may have restricted the UA
definition a bit. Its worth noting that routers have turned on DNT.
(http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2012/11/29/sitecom-do-not-track/)

This speaks to one of the issues raised by Mike Zaneis last week regarding
non-compliant entities enacting DNT.

Alan

On 7/9/13 11:18 AM, "David Singer" <singer@apple.com> wrote:

>
>On Jul 9, 2013, at 16:02 , Alan Chapell <achapell@chapellassociates.com>
>wrote:
>
>> Hi Walter - I offered two links to articles that might be helpful.
>> 
>> 
>>http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20123464-12/amazons-silk-browser-now
>>-e
>> ff-approved-really/
>
>OK, this one is more interesting.  To what extent is the Silk browser
>effectively a 'distributed user agent'?  I agree with others that trying
>to restrict what my local software can remember locally on my behalf is
>not needed (it's part of me, the presumably second party), but I agree
>with you that the browser *vendor* or other 'parties' are third parties
>by definition.
>
>
>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/07/help_my_belkin_router/
>
>A router is not a user-agent.
>
>> 
>> I'm making a point that most UA's have access to URL history and other
>> information that could easily be used for tracking as defined by the WG.
>
>Only if another party has access to that data, I think.
>
>> It would seem inconsistent to have DNT block other forms of tracking if
>> we're not also going to have DNT block UA tracking.
>
>
>I don't think one can 'track' oneself (it's kind of like a snake eating
>itself).  But yes, we need to be clear that all other parties (including
>the user-agent vendor) are third parties and subject to these controls.
>
>David Singer
>Multimedia and Software Standards, Apple Inc.
>
>

Received on Tuesday, 9 July 2013 15:56:33 UTC