If defending a landmark $3.6 trillion federal budget proposal and a $787 billion economic stimulus package was not enough, the Obama administration has been dogged by persistent complaints about persistent cookies used by YouTube in embedded videos on administration web sites.
Persistent Dogging over Persistent Cookies
The big dollar spending initiatives have dominated the news cycles but blogger, self styled cyber activist and academician Chris Soghoian remained on the embedded video watch as the Obama team has successively launched its transition site (change.gov) after the election, the new whitehouse.gov site after the inauguration and the stimulus tracking site (recovery.gov) after the passing of the economic recovery act.
The Original Complaints
As detailed in this blog's post last December, Soghoian's initial call for team Obama to "ditch YouTube" was based on three concerns:
Soghoian implies a correlation between his critiques and the technical fix, which he suggests may be modeled after the the Electronic Frontier Foundation's MyTube privacy tool.
Making YouTube Safe for Federal Websites
If all of these changes took place incrementally on whitehouse.gov, the more fully formed package of fixes debuted with recovery.gov.
1. Visitors guarded from YouTube Persistent Cookies until they Click
The image of a embedded YouTube (left) and the actual embedded video (below).
As Soghoian describes it "YouTube is now only able to use cookies to track users who click on the "play" button on an embedded YouTube video -- the majority of people who scroll through a page without clicking play will not be tracked."
2. Exclusive use of YouTube and the Appearance of Favoritism
Below the screen, users are given the option to download the video directly or access it from an alternate video sharing site (vimeo).
3. Transparency about Privacy and User Choice
The initial screen (image, not the actual embed) includes a link to the YouTube privacy policy, which users can compare to the administration's privacy policy (linked below the video) before they click on anything.
What Have We Learned?
The administration has taken the same kind of pragmatic approach to the persistent cookie problem as it has with larger policy issues. It brings with the risk of alienating the most zealous in its base but it also brings the promise of getting things done.
There are two other alternatives. Soghoian clearly wants a crack down on Google for the privacy-invading cookie-collecting practices of its YouTube service (even with the privacy work arounds in place). Drawing attention to concerns over the administration's use of these technologies is also the best shot at what Soghoian really wants -- a congressional investigation.
Within the civil service, federal web masters report that they have been in discussions with YouTube for about a year to establish a YouTube just for government to provide a comprehensive, once and for all policy-based solution to concerns over privacy and commercial encroachment. The problem is, there is no once and for all on the Internet. The other problem with a YouTube-of-Its-Own approach is that it would be isolated from the real YouTube, that space where 80.7 million people gather voluntarily to watch videos -- a place where the eye balls that public agencies want to reach gather naturally.
Persistent Dogging over Persistent Cookies
The big dollar spending initiatives have dominated the news cycles but blogger, self styled cyber activist and academician Chris Soghoian remained on the embedded video watch as the Obama team has successively launched its transition site (change.gov) after the election, the new whitehouse.gov site after the inauguration and the stimulus tracking site (recovery.gov) after the passing of the economic recovery act.
The Original Complaints
As detailed in this blog's post last December, Soghoian's initial call for team Obama to "ditch YouTube" was based on three concerns:
- The use of persistent cookies by YouTube that would violate a long standing prohibition of the use of long-term cookies on federal websites;
- Favoratism through the exclusive use of what Soghoian repeatedly reminds us is the Google-owned YouTube; and,
- Lack of transparency about privacy and user choice.
Soghoian implies a correlation between his critiques and the technical fix, which he suggests may be modeled after the the Electronic Frontier Foundation's MyTube privacy tool.
Making YouTube Safe for Federal Websites
If all of these changes took place incrementally on whitehouse.gov, the more fully formed package of fixes debuted with recovery.gov.
1. Visitors guarded from YouTube Persistent Cookies until they Click
The image of a embedded YouTube (left) and the actual embedded video (below).
As Soghoian describes it "YouTube is now only able to use cookies to track users who click on the "play" button on an embedded YouTube video -- the majority of people who scroll through a page without clicking play will not be tracked."
2. Exclusive use of YouTube and the Appearance of Favoritism
Below the screen, users are given the option to download the video directly or access it from an alternate video sharing site (vimeo).3. Transparency about Privacy and User Choice
The initial screen (image, not the actual embed) includes a link to the YouTube privacy policy, which users can compare to the administration's privacy policy (linked below the video) before they click on anything.What Have We Learned?
The administration has taken the same kind of pragmatic approach to the persistent cookie problem as it has with larger policy issues. It brings with the risk of alienating the most zealous in its base but it also brings the promise of getting things done.
There are two other alternatives. Soghoian clearly wants a crack down on Google for the privacy-invading cookie-collecting practices of its YouTube service (even with the privacy work arounds in place). Drawing attention to concerns over the administration's use of these technologies is also the best shot at what Soghoian really wants -- a congressional investigation.
Within the civil service, federal web masters report that they have been in discussions with YouTube for about a year to establish a YouTube just for government to provide a comprehensive, once and for all policy-based solution to concerns over privacy and commercial encroachment. The problem is, there is no once and for all on the Internet. The other problem with a YouTube-of-Its-Own approach is that it would be isolated from the real YouTube, that space where 80.7 million people gather voluntarily to watch videos -- a place where the eye balls that public agencies want to reach gather naturally.
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