Slashdot Mirror
Feds Seek Input On Cookie Policy For Government Web Sites
suraj.sun sends along this quote from Information Week:
"The government wants to use cookies to offer more personalized web sites to citizens and better analytics to Webmasters. ... The federal government has drafted changes to its outdated restrictions on HTTP cookies, and wants the public's input. Under the plan, detailed in a blog post by federal CIO Vivek Kundra and... Michael Fitzpatrick, federal agencies would be able to use cookies as long as their use is lawful, citizens can opt out of being tracked, notice of the use of cookies is posted on the Web site, and Web sites don't limit access to information for those who opt out. ... The Office of Management and Budget is considering three separate tiers of cookie usage that will likely have different restrictions for each, based on privacy risks. The first tier of sites would use single-session technologies, the second multi-session technologies for use in analytics only, and the third for multi-session cookies that are used to remember data or settings 'beyond what is needed for web analytics.'"
Cookies are as much of a privacy concern as walking down the street.
If the government wants to track you they are going to go directly to the source and track you via a data center. Trying to track someone with cookies is about the least effective way to go about it. If you're worried about cookies you might as well sit in your mom's basement with a tinfoil hat.
Cookies are however used to improve government website, by allowing users to login and save settings. It also allows the content owners to understand effective UI, how users navigate the website, what keeps user coming back for more and other key information. By not letting government websites utilize these simple tools, you're pretty much ensuring you'll have a worse experience with you visit a government website.
It's idiotic.