A very long time ago, I had a teacher who taught a class I didn’t find particularly challenging. Like most lads of 11 or 12, I found other, generally disruptive ways to amuse myself (and often my classmates) in lieu of the lesson being taught. As an aside, once I became a teacher several years later, I didn’t find it all that amusing when some of my charges did similar things.
Inevitably, she would reel me back to Earth and ask me in a phrase that the whole class came to know and love “Keith, why you do these things?” No, English was not her first language but it was a language class anyway so not much English was spoken. I bring this up because I find myself asking the same question about something this morning and maybe you can help me answer.
I’m talking about the lawsuit filed against Specific Media for their alleged use of Flash cookies to reproduce deleted HTML cookies. You can read about it here. This is not the first time that someone has been sued over the use of these cookies (although I would feel a little better if more than one entity was the source of the suits) and if the allegations are true, it’s kind of scummy behavior. And that’s why I’m asking them the question: why you do these things?
If a user had blocked or deleted cookies, using some other piece of technology to accomplish the same thing clearly is going against their wishes. Sure, it may serve your business purposes, but it doesn’t serve the needs or desires of the people your business serves – you know, the ones who make it all possible, your users. I know that tracking users is the lifeblood of the web business in many ways. I also know that while some folks feel as if privacy is dead, I don’t think that’s how users perceive the way the web ought to be and maybe those of us who can should try to meet their higher standard (before it’s forced on us, by the way). Sure, Specific can say that their customers (media firms, publishers) want this information and they need it to stay in business but inevitably, scummy behavior gets found out and punished.
I monitor and know how to delete my Flash and HTML cookies. Sometimes, I choose not to and, in so doing, I’m aware that I’m being tracked. I find that tracking useful on sites such as Amazon but I delete it 100% of the time when I feel as if it’s happened without my knowledge and approval. You?
What do you think as both a consumer and a business person? Why they do these things?
Consult Keith 