The Great Cookie Debate

My colleague, Susan Miller, posts on FCW.com's other blog that this is and she points to a , who contends that "this is a nonstory born of ignorance and paranoia and now hype."With all due respect, this is much ado about nothing. Web sites do not need permanent cookies to count visitors. Most violations of the Web cookie policy -- and yes, these sites are violating a policy here -- are usually just organizations that do not change the defaults on some system, and yes, most sites ask for cookies. Agencies already can also use session cookies.Furthermore, the E-Government Act does make allowances for cookies, according to the Center for Democracy and Technology's Ari Schwartz. I will re-post Schwartz's comments from :The fact is that agencies are not every other Web site. Agencies have higher standards. We all understand that. And if these things are only to track numbers of visits and visitors, why not at least disclose? What additional data do permanent cookies provide?