Prior to reading this article in the Washington Post, I didn’t know that there was a long-standing ban on tracking cookies on government web sites. Apparently, this ban has been on the books for nearly nine years, and was enacted after a firestorm of concern from privacy groups.
Well, now the Obama Administration wants to remove the nine-year ban, much to the chagrin of a multitude of privacy-advocacy organizations.
From WaPo:
The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with “cookies” and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups.
A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House Office of Management and Budget to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards. The current prohibition, in place since 2000, can be waived if an agency head cites a “compelling need.”
Supporters of a change say social networking and similar services, which often take advantage of the tracking technologies, have transformed how people communicate over the Internet, and Obama’s aides say those services can make government more transparent and increase public involvement.
Some privacy groups say the proposal amounts to a “massive” and unexplained shift in government policy. In a statement Monday, American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Michael Macleod-Ball said the move could “allow the mass collection of personal information of every user of a federal government website.”
Even groups that support updating the policy question whether the administration is seeking changes at the request of private companies, such as online search giant Google, as the industry’s economic clout and influence in Washington have grown rapidly.
Two prominent technology policy advocacy groups, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Electronic Frontier Foundation, cited the terms of a Feb. 19 contract with Google, in which a unnamed federal agency explicitly carved out an exemption from the ban so that the agency could use Google’s YouTube video player.
While I think it’s always good to scrutinize any action by the government to interfere with the privacy of private citizens, I don’t think that this particular issue qualifies.
All Americans with the slightest degree of computer-savvy can handle their own internet privacy; all citizens have the ability to control their own cookies.
Should we be alarmed about the government tracking us through internet cookies? Or, instead, should we take it upon ourselves to control our own privacy?
Are you worried? I’m not.
- Marc
You are right, this is nothing compared to the FISA extensions and Patriot Act spawned invasions that Obama cuddles with as much as Bush Jr. did.
Invasions (of Privacy)
Word. (seconded).
Nobody has a reason able expectation of privacy on the internet, in my opinion.