Everyday millions of people upload pictures, update their status message, and shop online. In each of these actions, users have expressed consent and the browser is the instrument that enables the user to perform these various tasks. When I upload a picture to a site, it is arguably governed by the terms and conditions of that site and local laws.
There have been some requests to require all web browsers to transmit rules that instruct web pages on how long they can hold onto data. Passing rules along with data is a bad idea because it may be ignored due to existing rules and simply because it is unenforceable.
Suppose that a default rule that a web browser would send is “only keep this data for 2 weeks”. When a user goes to upload and share a picture with their friends, there are existing terms and conditions in place merely by using the web site which may override this 2 week retention rule. The website might say plainly that uploaded pictures will be archived forever which is in conflict with the rules that are associated with the picture. This leads to user confusion as the expectations may differ.
Using the same example as above, there is no way for the browser to verify that the website does honor this retention rule. After all, what a recipient does with a piece of data is outside the scope of what a browser sees. Any browser user-interface would not be able to assert any fact regarding these rules. Thus, the default rules would never be able to be changed by the user. And because these defaults would never be seen by the user or changed in any way, all will most likely ignore them.
Currently, one of the most sensitive data that people share with a website is their credit card number. Browsers have never passed rules to a website when an e-commerce transaction occurs. Yet, sites do not retain credit card numbers without permission. In this case, there are regional laws governing the usage of credit card numbers.
This approach of putting legal protection around data is best. If a certain type of data is deemed more sensitive, it should be treated that way legally and outside of the way it is transfer. Credit card numbers can be transferred in any manner – from the browser to a website, or from a postcard to a brick and mortar – both methods are protected.
Update:
Localization to Belorussian by Patricia Clausnitzer. Cool.
MythTv Python Bindings in 0.23
For the last few weeks I have been testing the waters with an open source alternative to TiVo called MythTv. Its really simple to get started with and has some tremendously useful features for the tv hobbyist hacker. Check this out….
With the upcoming 0.23 release, MythTv has a new and super easy-to-use python binding. The best way to illustrate this is an example. Suppose you want to record every “special event” broadcast. These are the programs that do not occur all of the time. For example, “The Eighth Annual Young Comedians Show” is a special event. LOST is not. To do this, the code is simple:
This is huge! Being able to allow developers to script the TV is great and I can’t wait to see what cool things people come up with.