Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) becomes a W3C Recommendation

P3P allows people to define and publish their website privacy policies, and helps automate how those policies are read. P3P also gives users control over the use of their personal information on Web sites they visit, thus promoting trust and confidence in the Web.

Declaring P3P a W3C Recommendation indicates that it is a stable document, contributes to Web interoperability, and has been reviewed by the W3C Membership, who favour its widespread adoption. P3P was designed by a Working Group composed of privacy advocates, Web technology leaders, data protection commissioners, and global ecommerce companies.

"Website privacy policies are good, but understanding privacy policies is better," remarked Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. "P3P serves as the keystone to resolving larger issues of both privacy and security on the Web." The Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) 1.0, developed by W3C, provides a standard, simple, automated way for users to gain more control over the use of personal information on websites they visit.

At its most basic level, P3P is a standardised set of multiple-choice questions, covering all the major aspects of a website's privacy policies. Taken together, the answers present a machine readable version of the site's privacy policy, a clear snapshot of how a site handles personal information about its users. P3P-enabled websites make this information available in a standard, machine-readable format.

P3P enabled browsers can "read" this snapshot automatically and compare it to the consumer's own set of privacy preferences. P3P enhances user control by putting privacy policies where users can find them, in a form users can understand, and, most importantly, enables users to act on what they see.

"With P3P we are enabling the development of a whole new class of Web tools and services that will help users protect their privacy while streamlining ecommerce transactions," explained Daniel J. Weitzner, W3C Technology and Society Domain Leader, "The fact that the Web now has a standard language for describing privacy practices will enable a new level of transparency in Web-based interactions. The added facility for dealing with privacy issues will be especially important with mobile and other new forms of Web access."

P3P is created through the consensus-based W3C Process. Participants in the development of P3P represent leadership in industry, government, and research. Chaired by Dr. Lorrie Cranor of AT&T Labs-Research; they include 180solutions.com; Akamai Technologies; American Express; America Online, Inc.; AT&T; AvenueA; University of California, Irvine; Center for Democracy and Technology, USA; Charles Schwab Consultants; Citigroup; Doubleclick Inc.; Electronic Network Consortium (ENC), Japan; Engage; Ericsson; GMD/Fraunhofer; Hewlett Packard Company; IBM; IDcide; Independent Center for Privacy Protection Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; Internet Education Foundation; Joint Research Center of the European Commission; Microsoft; NCR; NEC; Ontario Office of Information and Privacy; PrivacyBank; along with invited experts. Many organizations have provided statements of support, some are announcing implementations.

"International representation was key to providing a privacy vocabulary that meets diverse needs and requirements," explained Rigo Wenning, W3C Privacy Activity Lead. "The Working Group also benefitted from the joint presence of industry, public authorities and academics. The design of P3P takes into account the multitude of privacy frameworks all over the world."

Associated Link: W3C website

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