LWN: Comments on "Developments in web tracking protection"

Developments in web tracking protection

Hausvib6 — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 03:02:02 +0000

Yes, web sites can be trusted, especially those in countries without law regarding DNT enforcement. Once all major browsers implement DNT, this world will be free of web tracking.

Developments in web tracking protection

Hausvib6 — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:58:36 +0000

Now I know why =) a week later after a new weekly published...

Well, Joe and Jane Sixpack will feel safer by using DNT, I think that's enough. Englightened people know that this is just a joke.

DNT default value

gerv — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:12:27 +0000

I don't think advertising it as a feature is enough to meaningfully claim that the user opted in.

Setting DNT: 1 by default in any major browser would blow the whole thing up IMO. It's definitely not the right thing to do. If you want to publicise it to get people to turn it on, or even create an addon to turn it on which people have to install, great. But it can't be on by default.

Gerv

Developments in web tracking protection

ThinkRob — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 23:58:46 +0000

The whole thing's just comical anyways -- at least it is to me.

It seriously reminds me of the evil bit [1]. There *has* to be some measure of tracking in pretty much any non-trivial web app, especially those dealing with financial transactions. At that point, the DNT header pretty much means "please don't do anything bad with the information that you're collecting". And we all know that sites can always be trusted to do that...

[1] http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3514.txt

Developments in web tracking protection

mathstuf — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:03:28 +0000

What tracking gets rid of is targeted advertising and cross-site pairings of users. It does not block advertising altogether.

Developments in web tracking protection

VelvetElvis — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 03:52:22 +0000

And once effective ways to monetize free content on the web have been removed in the name of "privacy," the well of free content will dry up. Adsense and the like is what allows a good portion of the web to pay for itself.

This sounds like a move in the direction of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

Developments in web tracking protection

jake — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:46:48 +0000

No, there was a glitch at this end that allowed folks to read the weekly who weren't subscribed (but not to be able to read the previous week, which should have been freed by then). All fixed now.

jake

Developments in web tracking protection

patrick_g — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:19:24 +0000

>>>I'm not a subscriber but I can read LWN weekly for this week... weird.

Perhaps someone sent you a subscriber link ?

DNT default value

josh — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:38:22 +0000

Seems easy enough to handle: once DNT gets widely adopted, just explicitly list on a browser's feature list "Tells sites not to track you!", in suitably clear language. Then, if the user downloads and installs that browser, they've clearly opted to not get tracked.

Opt-out should only remain the default long enough to get this feature accepted by anyone who intends to accept it.

Developments in web tracking protection

Hausvib6 — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 03:09:24 +0000

DNT on header will add more entropy to the HTTP request header which will be a benefit to tracking mechanisms similar to EFF's Panopticlick.

I'm not a subscriber but I can read LWN weekly for this week... weird.

DNT default value

gjmarter — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:48:20 +0000

I think for DNT to be effective, the default *has* to be 0. Otherwise, it does not represent a choice made by the user. Without that, it will be hard to convince web site owners that they should honor it.