[Responder] Chris Mejia
I object to Option A: I strongly object to the porting of ANY definition into the TPE. I believe that ALL definitions should be found in the compliance specification of the compliance regime for which a server claims compliance—such compliance regimes may include one created by W3C, or some other qualified organization. This TPE should focus ONLY on the technical protocols, and should not rely on any broad or narrow definition of terms. With respect to the TPE’s context (on it’s own), I counter the argument that the user needs to know what her preference is when she turns on the DNT signal. My opinion is that the user need only know that she has stated a preference to “send” a DNT signal. That’s all the TPE should be about—no further context required. I believe that how the server handles a preference statement from the user should be dependent on the compliance regime honored by the called server, and this should be messaged accordingly to the user. I’m very concerned about the “slippery slope” situation that the porting of ANY definition into the tech spec creates. If these ported definitions were too broad, valuable context could be lost. If these ported definitions were too narrow, technical and policy compliance may be jeopardized (i.e. some organizations may not be able to live with the resultant technical spec and may choose then not to honor DNT at all). Bringing overly broad or unclear definition of Tracking into the TPE does nothing to help the user understand his or her DNT choice. The user’s choice is simple: to send or not send a DNT signal. After all, I cannot conceive of how the TPE would ever, practically speaking, stand alone in the marketplace. Naturally, I think this TPE would be married with SOME compliance policy/spec, and the definition of terms found in the TPE would be made clear in that policy/spec. That policy/spec should be openly reference-able by any user, and that document, with its definitions, should help the user understand their choice to send a DNT signal. So to be clear, I OBJECT STRONGLY (I can’t live with) BOTH Option A and Option B, and am in strong support of Option C in this poll.