OMB deputy director John T. Spotila, in a Sept. 5 response to Baker s letter, outlined OMB s concerns about the unintended consequences of using cookies to collect data. Such cookies can often be linked to a person after the fact, even where that was not the original intent of the Web site operator, Spotila said. But information gathered for a single session, he said, can assist Web users in their electronic interactions with government, without threatening their privacy. OMB needs to make clear that cookies can be used within the bounds of the Privacy Act. If an agency collects personal information without the appropriate Privacy Act notices and controls, such use of cookies would be illegal.
Persistence has nothing to do with the law.
Walter R. Houser, who has more than two decades of experience in federal information management, is webmaster for a Cabinet agency. Inc. All rights reserved.