Mechanism for Tagging and Controlling Online Content
By Secret Sauce Partners, Inc.

Secret Sauce Partners is a US-based startup venture developing a solution for Internet users to better manage and control their privacy online. We have conducted an extensive interview process with dozens of Internet users, and this research has shown that there is great desire by users to control not only the publishing but also the deletion of content that they have placed online. This position paper intends to put forth a recommendation to the W3C to develop a mechanism that enables tagging blobs of any format in order to control its availability by the original publisher.

We have conducted interviews with a randomly selected audience over a multi-week period to understand the primary concerns of mainstream users. In this process, we have identified over 100 different tasks that people do today (or would like to do today) to manage or control their privacy on a variety of online media. One of the key issues voiced repeatedly was that the visibility and longevity of content is considerably different online than in the offline world.

The concern that is shared by the majority of the users is that not only could a person regret what they have published online and want to change or delete it, but more importantly, they may not be well informed about the current audience. The lack of fully transparent information about who can read or use the published material led to rigorous self-censorship and Òwatching but not playingÓ among numerous interviewees. Furthermore, some service providers are ambiguous about their privacy policies or privacy controls, and also make changes that later impact material that had been previously published. In other words, even if one knows full well the original audience, and even if the materials was created for such an intended audience only, the service provider may change access controls or privacy settings and the material may be leaked. Given the longevity of content, the long-term implications on oneÕs private, public and professional lives may be significant.

Some users have suggested that they would like the ability to remove content, as well as any of its incarnations (such as exact copies that have been duplicated by web sites other than the original medium or re-posts by oneÕs contacts). Given the heavy proliferation of social media, and the exponentially increasing content generated by mainstream Internet users, we believe such a mechanism will be essential to safeguard users. The more secure people feel, the more they will interact with each other and the more content they will generate, so rather than becoming an obstacle, safeguards help foster our culture online.

We propose a discussion about a mechanism that would allow consumers to tag any blobs, whether text or binary, such that content could only copied with the tag (i.e. , watermark). If such a tag is made standard, there is a commercial opportunity for software developers to develop tools that enable users to manage tagged content after the publishing date, no matter where that content may be.

ABOUT US: Secret Sauce Partners (SSP) is a venture funded startup co-founded by a New York based marketing and advertising executive Peter Orban and Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur Zoli Piroska. SSP develops solutions for large ($1+ billion) markets to identify underserved segments where incumbent solutions are inefficient or inadequate. 

CONTACT: 
Zoli Piroska
Co-Founder
zoli@secretsaucepartners.com
+1-415-707-9525
