[ISN] W3C focus on privacy, not security

From: jerichot_private
Date: Wed Apr 15 1998 - 17:23:53 PDT

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       W3C focus on privacy, not security
       By Reuters
       Special to CNET NEWS.COM
       April 15, 1998, 8:25 a.m. PT
       
    BRISBANE, Australia--Concerns about the security of messages transmitted
    on the Internet are no longer valid, the founder of the World Wide Web Tim
    Berners-Lee said today.
       
    However, Berners-Lee told the Seventh International World Wide Web
    Conference that privacy of information about users was still a top
    priority for the international World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an
    organization that oversees the use of the Internet.
       
    "I am very concerned about privacy aspects of the use of the Web at the moment," he said.
       
    The W3C is working on a Platform for Privacy Preference (P3P), which will
    allow Web users to dictate how much information is collected by Internet
    providers about what sites they visit, what purchases they make, and other
    Web habits, Berners-Lee added. 
       
    Berners-Lee, who is a W3C director, told the conference in Brisbane that
    security on the Internet is now more of a problem for governments because
    individuals can communicate in secret. 
       
    Cryptography is very, very strong so there are many ways of sending
    information across the Internet, according to Berners-Lee, as reported on
    Australian Broadcasting's Web site. 
       
    "So really it's impossible for somebody else to find out what you're
    saying," he said. "In fact, the biggest problem with applying security
    isn't that the technology isn't strong enough, it's that governments are
    so frightened of it." 
       
    "They're very frightened of consumers or terrorists being able to
    communicate equally well in a secret way," Berners-Lee noted. 
       
    The Web inventor said he is against organizations or governments who seek
    to regulate or censor the Internet, saying Web technology tries not to
    force a particular policy or view on its users. 
       
    I believe if somebody is going to decide what a child should see, then
    it's a good idea for that person to be a parent," he said, pointing to
    technology that allows children to be locked out of certain sites. 
       
    
    -o-
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