[2406] in WWW Security List Archive
Re: cookies and privacy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dave Kristol)
Tue Jul 16 11:13:05 1996
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 08:52:53 -0400
To: Paul Phillips <paulp@cerf.net>
From: dmk@bell-labs.com (Dave Kristol)
Cc: www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
Errors-To: owner-www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
Paul Phillips wrote:
>What percentage of the web-using population do you suppose has even the
>foggiest idea who DoubleClick is, and of those, how many accurately
>understand what it is that they did, and to what extent it poses a threat
>to their personal information? Vanishingly few. This is not the sort of
>atmosphere where public opinion is an effective or just tool for deterring
>unethical behavior.
No doubt few users know about DoubleClick, and no doubt they have little
understanding about cookies. But people consistently *claim* they care
about privacy (behavior notwithstanding), and I believe if various media
tell them their privacy is being invaded by these things called "cookies",
they will express concern. While some of the news reports have misstated
the true threat, they do usefully raise people's consciousness, and that
can mobilize public opinion.
Dave Kristol
