According to CNET, the White House has again changed its privacy policy regarding persistent cookies and online videos. Now all video providers, it appears–not just YouTube–has received a formal exemption of the federal prohibition on persistent cookies.
But beyond the cookie issue–which shouldn’t be placed at all when the public watches a government video–are questions regarding statistical and tracking data. Is Google/YouTube providing the White House with any analytics and user information [such as through YouTube Insight]? For example, YouTube allows “brand channels” to know “the gender and age” of viewers; “identify the ways…users find your videos;” “Hot spots viewing information, which identifies viewing trends for each moment in a video.” YouTube also permits brand channel video providers to track users via a “one 1px by 1px third-party tracking tag, which lets the channel owners use view-through tracking to better understand a user’s behavior after the user leaves the channel page.”
We assume the White House will answer such questions (such as whether they receive brand channel-like services), respond favorably to the FOIA request from Chris Soghoian, and ensure that the site reflects the highest possible consumer privacy standards.
