- From: Tyler Close <tyler.close@gmail.com>
- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 11:27:30 -0800
On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 23:38:41 +0600, James Graham <jg307 at cam.ac.uk> wrote: > And boy does it suggest this feature will be a marketing problem :( > Darin Fisher blogged the Mozilla implementation[1] and received a stream > of comments, many from people who clearly haven't thought about how easy > tracking already is, to the effect that they will never use a browser > with this feature etc. I think the "ping" attribute is a great feature and I also think it's great that the cited presentation of the feature provoked the reaction that it did. Having a user base that expresses demand for privacy and security is crucial to actually getting some privacy and security, which is something I sorely want. The problem here is the presentation. In reality, the "ping" attribute is a net plus for privacy and security, not a new threat. The feature needs to be presented as something that will be applauded by "privacy conscious folks", not something that will "raise some eye-brows". I will certainly applaud it. As is noted in the cited blog post, web sites already have the ability to track link clicks and many do so. This ability to track link clicks also isn't a bug in the design, but a natural consequence of the application: the server chooses what links to present to the user. That's just the nature of the Web, resources can choose what to link to. They can link back to their own site, or they can link into another site. The problem is that the current HTML design forces sites to use a layer of indirection to track link clicks to external sites. This layer of indirection is a problem for usability, performance and design complexity. It's a usability problem because the real link target is obscured, so using the right-click menu to copy the link, or bookmark it, will not yield the expected results. It's a performance problem because the link traversals are done serially. It causes design complexity because the programmer must remember to wrap all links to external sites in a reference to a redirector. I think it would be fair to characterize current techniques for link click tracking as "opaque". In contrast, the proposed "ping" attribute explicitly declares in the HTML what is intended and how it will happen. Perhaps the right way to explain the "ping" attribute is as providing transparent, or explicit, feedback; shining a light on the dark corners of click tracking. If it is explained that the feature will make link click tracking explicit, controllable and more usable, I think the user base will react more positively. Tyler -- The web-calculus is the union of REST and capability-based security: http://www.waterken.com/dev/Web/ Name your trusted sites to distinguish them from phishing sites. https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=957
Received on Thursday, 19 January 2006 11:27:30 UTC