Comments on: YouTube's new 'nocookie' feature continues to serve cookies

A recently implemented "delayed cookie" privacy feature at YouTube begs the question: When is a cookie not a cookie?

[hawkeyeaz1]

You can view the contents by going to %appdata%\Macromedia\ (Windows) or /Users/User/Library/Preferences/Macromedia (OSX)... binary files.

[gggg sssss]

Blame Macromedia for this albatross called Flash, and now adobe for perpetuating it. Only Silverlight is worse

[LarrytheG]

I'm having a hard time understanding the issue and it's implications and I suspect that I'm not alone.

I could be helpful if ..you might include a link that explains the implications of such behaviors....

The fact that hundreds/thousands of other organizations use YouTube without such concerns - requires that more education be done by blogs like this unless you want it to just become an "insiders" place to visit.... which would be fine by me if that is your intent anyhow...but then why have the RSS available if that is the case?

Why did it take the use of YouTube by the WH to cause this upheaval? What are the consequences of the White House doing exactly what many other organizations including Federal, State and Local Governments use?

And not to let GOOGLE or any other entity go free on this criticism... why not be FULLY TRANSPARENT on the use of these things that do affect people's privacy rather than getting into verbal back&forthing over semantics and parsing words and phrases?

Finally - why not have the White House Site itself - fully explain what it is doing (and not) and why?

If this is really important to the public - Ya'll need to be talking to the public more than playing "inside baseball" with each other...

just my 2 cents worth.

[georgezimmer]

Hi Larry. I can answer both of your questions.

1. These cookies are being used to track people who visit the White House website and give them ID numbers. This post shows that despite Google's publicly announced changes to the way the tracking is done (tracking only people who click "play" on a video), it is still being carried on for all users in secret.

2. The White House has a privacy policy that says it will not track visitors. YouTube is breaking this policy so they wrote a special exemption that they refuse to release. The White House explained this policy somewhat but they don't have a private "ombudsman" so probably they don't want to publicly respond to these new findings and cause a ruckus.

[LarrytheG]

Hi georgezimmer -

What exactly is being captured and saved and what can it be used for?

is it true or not - that no Gov site uses cookies to "track"?

What is the US Govt policy on tracking cookies?

I think if we want the "average" person to be interested/concerned then we need to lay out in chapter and verse in ordinary person language what the "rukus" is all about.

Otherwise.. it will remain "inside baseball" .. "geek" talk.. to most ordinary folks.

[georgezimmer]

They're tracking your computer. They don't have your home address, but they have your computer address, which can be traced to you most of the time.

Cookies cannot be used on ANY federal website.

[LarrytheG]

Are we saying that it is Federal Policy NOT to allow cookies on ANY Federal Website - and the White House just ignored that policy?

as far as "tracking" is concerned ... if you want the public to get involved and demand from their elected representatives - changes - then my 2 cents worth - the dialog has to get way beyond the current "inside baseball" level.

The average guy is already a bit paranoid about the government being to wiretap their phones, track their cell phones.. track their credit cards... track their EZ-Pass, etc, etc...

what makes the cookie issue - different.. perhaps more important compared to these other things?