Lynette I. Millett
ABSTRACT
We first provide criteria for assessing informed consent online. Then we examine how cookie technology and Web browser designs have responded to concerns about informed consent. Specifically, we document relevant design changes in Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer over a 5-year period, starting in 1995. Our retrospective analyses leads us to conclude that while cookie technology has improved over time regarding informed consent, some startling problems remain. We specify six of these problems and offer design remedies. This work fits within the emerging field of Value-Sensitive Design.
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Index Terms
- Cookies and Web browser design: toward realizing informed consent online
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Reviews
John M. Artz
This article presents the criteria for informed consent (disclosure, comprehension, “voluntariness”, competence and agreement) and evaluates the policies inherent in Netscape and Internet Explorer with regard to placing cookies on a user’s machine. The analysis is interesting. As one might expect, the browsers do not fare very well with regard to these criteria, which are admittedly applied after the fact. But the findings do highlight the fact that the interests of users are sometimes not the primary design concern of new software products. Online Computing Reviews Service
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