Privacy and Your Web Site
From the Editor

By David Fiedler

People have valid privacy concerns, even if their fears of technology are sometimes overblown.

This week, and starting today (June 10), the Federal Trade Commission is holding a far-reaching workshop on the subject of Consumer Information Privacy. While this workshop covers many interesting topics, such as spam e-mail, the parts that concern most Web developers involve commercial databases, e-commerce and its security, and the use and abuse of cookies.

And make no mistake, what's being discussed is the definite possibility of the U.S. Government stepping in and deciding for us that we--as the creators of Web sites--can't be trusted to deal with people viewing Web sites in a fair and private way (this from the same government that doesn't want to trust its own citizens with the technology to keep their own thoughts private, but that's another story). In that case, we'd come up against, potentially, the real live HTML police. Use a cookie, go to jail.

At the same time, people concerned about privacy aren't just paranoid: the technology we use does have the potential for abuse. If you have any doubt of this, check out the Center for Democracy and Technology's Privacy Demonstration Page. As with virtually any technology--starting with fire and extending to nuclear energy-- people can create it, so people must make sure they don't misuse it. That's the responsibility that goes with freedom.

Cookies

Those clever little cookies that so many sites use are now under attack by some privacy advocates. The idea that cookies by themselves cause security problems is easy to understand from the human standpoint, but not the technical one; not everyone on the Internet is technologically aware anymore. Cookie Central, an excellent resource based in England, has a very nice page about the latest in cookie technology, under discussion due to just these concerns.

WebDeveloper.com® is pleased to provide code that you can use on your own Web site that lets visitors view the contents of their own cookie files, helping them get some control over their own fate and showing them your commitment to their feeling of security.

Here at WebDeveloper.com, we've stopped using cookies (though we can't directly control what advertisers might do through their banner ads), which we previously used to keep track of which page you were on, chiefly for demonstration purposes. This was less for privacy reasons than due to the fact that we dropped the use of frames in our redesign, but at least you'll know that if you get any cookies while visiting us, we're not sending them to you ourselves.

If you'd like your own pages to appeal to people who like their privacy, then check out our report on Making Your Site Privacy-Friendly.
-- D. Fiedler

Some Tasty Cookie Resources

• Web Developer®: Programming with Cookies
• Web Developer®: Using Javascript with Cookies
• Web Developer®'s Cookie Links
• Cookie Central. All you ever wanted to know, no kidding.
• Andy's Cookie Page