On Fri, May 17, 2002 at 04:47:04PM +0200, Arnt Gulbrandsen wrote:
The following quotation arrived at the ietf-822 mailing list (cc'd), where
it has caused a bit of discussion.
"All of the security and privacy issues on the Web now relate to
e-mail," said Adam Shostack, director of technology at
Zero-Knowledge Systems, a Montreal-based privacy and security
company. "The shame about this behavior is that it's going on
surreptitiously and people are not given an obvious way to opt
out." [...]
Is the quotation accurate? If so, would you mind elaborating?
It seems reasonably accurate. The original article, by the way, is at
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-875992.html, and may provide some
context for what that "all" was referring to, which was tracking
technologies.
What I was talking about with the reporter was the use of web tracking
technologies, such as web bugs, counters, and cookies, and the privacy
impact that those things have. Those issues started out in the
browsers and with the rise of html mail, now affect people's email as
well. Similarly, with email being displayed by the same engines that
render web pages, I've seen Javascript spam with pop-unders.
What are you folks working on, and how did this come up?
Adam