OMB mixes up cookie policy

The Office of Management and Budget has issued a new web technology policy that addresses privacy concerns and "permits agencies within clear constraints and restrictions" to use certain web-tracking methods, said Michael Fitzpatrick, an associate administrator with the OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

The clarity provided by the new guidelines could make social and new media adoption easier for federal agencies, Fitzpatrick said in a June 25 press call (click for audio).

"[The use of social media] is going on already, it has been for many years, and it's important that we set down a clear set of rules of the road so that agencies have confidence when they engage in this area that they are doing it in the right way," said Fitzpatrick.

The primary focus of the updated policy is Internet cookies--those downloadable text files websites often placed onto local hard drives in order to track what users do during their visits. Cookies can be used to customize websites to better serve repeat users, and are often used in the private sector. But the information technology teams behind government portals have been wary of them.

One requirement of the new government cookie policy is that federal websites must give clear notice when cookies are deployed.

"No American citizen is going to access a site in which these types of technologies are used where they're not going to receive clear notice from the agency that this is going on, and then have either an opportunity to opt out, which would be at the less sensitive levels, or to actually opt in at the more sensitive levels," said Fitzpatrick. "Opt in usually yields a much lower participation rate, it really is a filter. So people who are opting in are making a very conscious decision at that point to participate in this type of activity."

Fitzpatrick said the new policy will allow federal outreach to the public which is not possible with existing methods, such as the Federal Register. "Many feel that [the Federal Register] has become a little out dated and antiquated, and it's a little obtuse and opaque," said Fitzpatrick. He said cookie-enabled media technologies, will have a much farther reach than the Federal Register.

For more:
- listen to the entire press call here
- see the Official OMB memos for the heads of executive departments and government agencies on the policy:
- Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies (.pdf)
- Guidance for Agency Use of Third-Party Websites and Applications (.pdf)
- see the "Updated Web Use Policies for Federal Government" fact sheet released by the OMB (HTML version or .doc version)

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