When we think of what goes into a typical cookie, we typically come up with harmless ingredients such as flour, sugar, eggs, and chocolate chips. But what goes into an Internet cookie? Surprisingly, you can summarize it into one ingredient; your privacy.
James Moor’s describes in his article, “Why we need better ethics for emerging technologies,” that the web has reached the power stage of its technological revolution and in doing so, it is vulnerable to what he describes as “policy vacuums”; the web grew so fast and allowed us to do so many new things that there were not policies in place to guide us. Cookies are just one part of the web that exists in this policy vacuum.
The base internet cookie is a small file that stores online information such as your login, shopping cart, and your browsing history for a specific website. Just like with edible cookies, Internet cookies come in different types; however, the base cookie is the same.
First-party cookies are cookies that are created from the website that you are currently visiting. These are generally considered safe and help to create a better user experience by facilitating login and remembering what you were shopping for. The danger to your privacy, however, comes from third-party cookies, which are created by websites other than the one that you are currently browsing. These are usually created by advertising companies who can then track what websites you are visiting and personalize ads towards you. The dangerous part of this all is that you did not consent to this.
This privacy breach comes back to Moor’s article and how we must be more proactive when thinking of the ethics of new technology. A simple question of “should we be storing an individual’s data without their permission” could have prevented this. Nonetheless, the General Data Protection Regulation enacted by the European Union aimed to fill this policy vacuum. The law said that companies/websites must make sure users know what information is being stored about them.
This resulted in cookie notifications when the user loads a website. However, the information is either too complicated to read or is not right in front of you; no one has time to read whole privacy policies. Furthermore, they claim a “better browsing experience” but do not even mention the third-party implications. It seems there is more work to do to fill this vacuum.
I really enjoyed reading this post. Comparing this revision to your original draft, I think you did a great job of incorporating the Moor reading into your discussion of cookies. The only suggestion I have is that I would've liked to hear a little bit more about where you think the ethical responsibility lies now that websites use cookie notifications. Now that the website informs the user about cookies, does that absolve them of the responsibility? If a user is that concerned about their privacy, shouldn't they read the fine print? Overall, I think this is a good revision and this post is interesting, covers an important topic, and is very relevant to the class.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. As compared to your original, I think it much better. The photo and font are more inviting, I think, to the audience. When I was scrolling through the page, your photo and title immediately caught my attention. Also, adding the course material about Moor was helpful. It ties in perfectly to your topic and allows for very positive revision. One suggestion would be to give a few words of background as to who Moor is, in case anyone not in the class reads the article. Overall, it is a fabulous article and revision.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post. After comparing your revision to the original, I think you did a good job of taking the comments you received and did a good job of incorporated the Moor article. Your blog post brought up many questions as I was reading it. The cookie notification that comes up, isn't this the same as the sign to accept terms and conditions whenever we update a software or sign up for an account? After you sign, or in this case, accept the cookie the responsibility lies onto the user. Your post brings up many more questions, but overall, the post is relevant to the class and very enjoyable to read.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post. I see cookies everywhere, but I never really had much of an idea about what they are until reading this post. Also, your integration of the reading made the post more reliable and relevant. All around, you did a great job bringing to light an issue that we deal with every day and outlining some of the effects of it i a concise manner. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Meelan, this is a great post and I enjoyed reading it. Comparing with your original post, I think your post is now even stronger. I like how you incorporate James Moor's article with your topic. One thing that I would recommend improving is to consider enlarging the size of the font so it is easier to read. Overall, nice work!
ReplyDeleteHi Meelan,
ReplyDeleteWow your piece definitely had me enticed and kept me engaged the whole time! My favorite part of reading it was your first paragraph. You did a great job in comparing the idea of cookie as food and cookie within the internet. One thing I would try to fix is to use a different photo for the second one above the last paragraph because it's a bit hard to see. Great job!
I enjoyed reading your post, and I think you did a good job incorporating the suggestions that comments had into your revisions, like connecting more to a reading in the class. The only thing that I could see that needs improvement is that the conclusion is a bit weak, and doesn't say anything new, and rather introduces a few new ideas without directly addressing work needed to fix the issue. Your post is very thought provoking and I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteYou have a creative way in pointing our the privacy issue and really attract the reader. I think you could have a better photo for the one at the end. The photo contains too much information and does not illustrate a main point.
ReplyDeleteHi Meelan,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoeyd reading your revision since I commented on the first iteration of this blog post. I see that you connected the Moor reading to this post and added photos which really helped tie your idea together to the class concepts. Great job! I also like that you combined the first-party and third-party cookie paragraphs into one since they are about the same idea.
I would suggest changing your second photo of all the cookie banners to another that was clearer and just included two or three banners instead of 5 in one picture. Also, making the size of the font a size larger would make reading much easier.