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

I think we’re off track here. (sorry for the pun).

Tracking data is data that, if retained, means that the retainer has engaged in tracking (as defined). The existence of the data is evidence of an activity.

We *cannot* re-define tracking at this point; that was a much considered consensus.  Nor can we define ‘tracking data’ as anything other than the data that results from tracking.


> On Mar 31, 2015, at 8:08 , Mike O'Neill <michael.oneill@btinternet.com> wrote:
> 
> 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

David Singer
Manager, Software Standards, Apple Inc.

Received on Tuesday, 31 March 2015 17:58:55 UTC