Microsoft complains Google bypasses IE9 privacy settings

Last week Microsoft discovered that Google circumvented privacy controls of Apple's Safari browser to keep tabs on Safari users via a tracking code. Google disabled the code and tried to downplayed the incident, but now Microsoft discovered that Google also bypasses the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer 9:

Now Microsoft is slamming Google again and this time it hits closer to home. In a new post on the Internet Explorer developer blog site, Microsoft claims that Google " .... bypasses the P3P Privacy Protection feature in IE. The result is similar to the recent reports of Google’s circumvention of privacy protections in Apple’s Safari Web browser, even though the actual bypass mechanism Google uses is different."

Microsoft executive Dean Hachamovitch wrote in the blog post:

Technically, Google utilizes a nuance in the P3P specification that has the effect of bypassing user preferences about cookies. The P3P specification (in an attempt to leave room for future advances in privacy policies) states that browsers should ignore any undefined policies they encounter. Google sends a P3P policy that fails to inform the browser about Google's use of cookies and user information. Google's P3P policy is actually a statement that it is not a P3P policy.

Google responds by arguing that Microsoft's P3P policies are "widely non-operational" and incompatible with today's web use. Full details about Google's response can be rad at Slashgear:

Google has fired back at Microsoft over claims the search company bypasses privacy systems in Internet Explorer, arguing that its rival’s P3P policies are “widely non-operational” and incompatible with today’s web use. Microsoft had suggested that Google did not observe the so-called “self-declaration protocol”, or P3P, which demands sites present a machine-readable version of their privacy practices. However, in a statement by senior VP of communications and policy, Rachel Whetstone, Google says Microsoft’s system is outdated and over-involved, and more importantly breaks features like the Facebook “Like” button.

“Newer cookie-based features are broken by the Microsoft implementation in IE. These include things like Facebook “Like” buttons, the ability to sign-in to websites using your Google account, and hundreds more modern web services. It is well known that it is impractical to comply with Microsoft’s request while providing this web functionality” Rachel Whetstone, senior VP of communications and policy, Google