Late last week, the Web Analytics Association (WAA) released a “statement of principles” in hopes of clearly differentiating spyware and cookies that are used by Web analytics applications. Though the difference between the two is obvious to those in the know, many consumers and even government officials are still unclear about the differences, and some anti-spyware applications continue to count cookies as spyware.
Anti-spyware laws have been passed in both California and Utah. On the federal level, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed related bills in each of the past two years, but neither has been passed as law. The FTC chose to prosecute spyware proponents under fraud laws that are already in effect, rather than initiate new regulations.
A key advocate of these new anti-spyware principles is Ben Isaacson, who heads the privacy and compliance operations at Experian’s CheetahMail. “We’ve watched very closely the development of anti-spyware laws around the country and at the federal level. It became clear that there needed to be something done to clarify the difference between the deceptive practices of spyware purveyors and the legitimate use of tracking technology by analytics vendors,” said Isaacson.
Past versions of current fraud laws were made with a misunderstanding of the difference between cookies and spyware. Cookies and Web beacons are used by Web analytics vendors in order to track and measure the general population’s online behavior and activities. However, according to Isaacson, cookies and Web beacons are being confused with spyware. “But cookies and Web beacons are not downloadable software and therefore cannot execute malicious programs on a user’s machine. As such, they pose no deceptive threat whatsoever to online users.”
According to some, there are anti-spyware retailers that are deliberately pushing this misconception in order to sell more of their product. “Some anti-spyware vendors target technology such as cookies. We feel that this is not only misleading but may needlessly alarm and confuse consumers,” said Andrew Edwards, who is a managing partner of Technology Leaders and a director of the WAA.
In response to this false fear and understanding that has been created, the WAA is pushing for legislation that goes after deceiving behavior rather than the technology that this behavior utilizes.
The FTC may receive more funding to prosecute online crimes if a bill that has already been passed by the Senate is approved by the House as well.
Other aspects of the WAA’s “statement of principles” include commitments by its members to not take part in deceptive practices, and to reveal its procedures and policies to third parties. The WAA also plans on educate the public about the advantages of cookies and other types of tracking tools that Web analytics vendors use to gather their data.
Source:
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3593876
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