Microsoft Says Google Circumvents IE Privacy Policies Too

[kristopher]

Microsoft Says Google Circumvents IE Privacy Policies Too
By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Feb 20, 2012 5:28 pm

Microsoft on Monday accused Google of bypassing privacy protections in Internet Explorer, following accusations last week that Google was doing so in Apple's Safari browser.

In a blog post, Dean Hachamovitch, corporate vice president for Internet Explorer, described how Microsoft believes Google is getting around IE privacy policies.

IE by default blocks so-called third-party cookies unless a site presents to the browser a P3P Compact Policy Statement describing how the site will use the cookie and pledging not to track the user. P3P is a protocol that websites use to disclose details in a standard format about how they plan to use information collected from users. Browsers that support P3P can block cookies or allow them in compliance with user privacy preferences. Third party cookies are those dropped by domains other than the one in the user's browser address bar.

"Technically, Google utilizes a nuance in the P3P specification that has the effect of bypassing user preferences about cookies," Hachamovitch wrote. "Google's P3P policy is actually a statement that it is not a P3P policy. It's intended for humans to read even though P3P policies are designed for browsers to 'read'," he said.

P3P-compliant browsers read Google's policy as saying that...

http://www.pcworld.com/article/250327/microsoft_says_google_circumvents_ie_privacy_policies_too.html

[customerserviceguy]

1. Hmm, Jesse James calls Billy the Kid an outlaw. n/t