Subject: WEBPRIV BOF at D.C. IETF - USV Area

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 10:00:55 -0800

Monday, December 8 at 1930-2200

	WEBPRIV BOF (Web User Privacy: Expectations and Threats)
	BOF Chair: Larry Masinter
	Area: User Services

BOF description:

There are a number of methods in use that gather information about
users of products over the network. While many of these information
gathering methods are benign, the potential for abuse is quite large.
Popular reports of the privacy issues around web browsing have focused
on the issue of 'cookies': the use of the HTTP state management
mechanism to send information about the user to a third party. However,
there are a large number of other possible threats. For example,
software packages, when downloaded and installed, may send the user's
identification and other information directly to the maker of the
software package, in the name of 'helping' with the identification of
the user's configuration.

The goal of the BOF is canvas for interest in creating a guideline to
threats to user privacy and an enumeration of the mechanisms and
policies that are necessary to avoid such threats.