White House Lifts Ban on Cookies
White House officials recently announced the proposed abolishment of a decade-long ban on browser cookies after talks with public groups and privacy advocates.
According to the Federal Register notice on the topic, the goal of the review is for the federal government to continue protecting the privacy of those visiting its websites while simultaneously making these websites more user-friendly, and allowing for enhanced web analytics.
The ban will limit the collection of personally identifiable information that can be obtained through cookies when a user visits a webpage. The policy will require non-government websites to gain users’ consent before tracking their activity on the site.
The Web Measurement and Customization initiative is part of the Open Government, Privacy and Regulation plan, and Office of Management and Budget officials plan to release new guidance documents in the near future to achieve the goals of both privacy and transparency for the public to engage safely with the government.
In addition to the cookie ban, OMB is also addressing the federal agency uses of Web 2.0 applications. The new revisions touch upon the importance of agencies’ use of social-networking sites in the government’s attempt to achieve participation and transparency, and instill a set of guidelines for the federal use of these sites.
According to the released Open Government plan, “OMB is in the process of drafting guidance for federal agencies to protect both openness and privacy, and to address ambiguities in OMB’s existing guidance that may be discouraging agencies from adopting third-party technologies, such as ‘social media’ websites and ‘web 2.0′ applications.”
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