Re: introduction to the TPE

I know Roy has already shot this down, but I'd say this intro (along with the current one) still has a deficiency.

As I've said before, the intro should set up what the spec does without being misleading.  The TPE is not a complicated spec in terms of capabilities on the UA side; you can alter the status quo either by sending a 0 or a 1.   When we speak about expressing a preference your options are pretty limited 0, 1 or choose not to decide.  The spec, as it sits, only requires the ability to communicate 1.  It would have been a trivial change to the language to mandate that UAs MUST offer a DNT:0 option, but the consensus was not to mandate this.  Fine, that was what was decided, but having so decided you need to reflect this decision in the introduction.  This is not about obtaining "a preference" it is about obtaining "the preference" DNT:1.

Again, I am not trying to revisit old decisions, I would just ask that those decisions be accurately reflected in what the spec sets out to do.  The intro should say something along the lines that it offers the ability for a user to express a preference for not tracking (not a generic preference).  Parts of the protocol which are optional shouldn't be in the opening sentence of the introduction.

-Brooks

--.

Brooks Dobbs, CIPP | Chief Privacy Officer | KBM Group | Part of the Wunderman Network
(Tel) 678 580 2683 | (Mob) 678 492 1662 | kbmg.com
brooks.dobbs@kbmg.com

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From: David Wainberg <dwainberg@appnexus.com<mailto:dwainberg@appnexus.com>>
Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 6:20 PM
To: "public-tracking@w3.org<mailto:public-tracking@w3.org>" <public-tracking@w3.org<mailto:public-tracking@w3.org>>, "chris.mejia@iab.net<mailto:chris.mejia@iab.net> Mejia" <chris.mejia@iab.net<mailto:chris.mejia@iab.net>>
Subject: introduction to the TPE
Resent-From: <public-tracking@w3.org<mailto:public-tracking@w3.org>>
Resent-Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 6:20 PM

Apologies for having to drop in the middle of this discussion today, but I was late for another meeting. As we discussed, the Introduction should be pared down to remove unneeded and inappropriate text, and to better reflect what is in the document. The last para is most all that's required. I propose the following version as the complete intro:

1. Introduction

This specification defines protocol elements for use within the Hypertext Transfer Protocol [HTTP<http://www.w3.org/2011/tracking-protection/drafts/tracking-dnt.html#bib-HTTP>] which allow a user to express a tracking preference, via the DNT<http://www.w3.org/2011/tracking-protection/drafts/tracking-dnt.html#dfn-dnt> request header field, and allow a server to describe their tracking behavior via a well-known tracking status resource<http://www.w3.org/2011/tracking-protection/drafts/tracking-dnt.html#status-resource> and the Tk<http://www.w3.org/2011/tracking-protection/drafts/tracking-dnt.html#dfn-tk> response header field. In addition, JavaScript APIs are defined for enabling scripts to determine DNT status and to register a user-granted exception. This specification does not stand on its own, but rather is intended to couple with a compliance specification that will define what recipients must do in response to the DNT request header field.