P3P: Platform for Privacy Preferences Charlin Lu Sensitive Information in a Wired World November 11, 2003

What is P3P? The Platform for Privacy Preferences is a standard, computer-readable format for privacy policies and a protocol allowing web browsers and other tools to read and process privacy policies automatically.

Who created P3P? World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) – a nonprofit, industry-supported consortium including researchers and engineers from over 420 institutions. Participants in the development of P3P came from around the world, including representatives from industry, government, nonprofit organizations, and academia.

Why was P3P created? To increase consumer trust. “If the ability to spend is the fuel that propels the economic engine, then consumers’ trust and confidence in that engine is the lubricant.” To protect privacy by allowing informed choice. Privacy is the ability of individuals to exercise control over the disclosure and subsequent uses of their personal information. Hence notice is fundamental to the individual’s ability to protect his or her privacy. To make choice easy. Privacy policies are difficult and time-consuming to locate, to read, and to understand; and they change frequently without notice.

How does P3P work? 1. User sets personal privacy preferences on a tool such as a browser.

How does P3P work? 2. Browser requests privacy policy from a (P3P- compliant) Web site. 3.Browser compares the privacy policy with the user’s privacy preferences and acts accordingly. (Symbols, pop-up prompts, etc.)

P3P Policies Include: Who is collecting this data? What information is being collected? For what purpose? Which information is being shared with others? Who are these data recipients? Can users access their identified data? Can users make changes in how their data is used? What is the policy for retaining data? How are disputes resolved? Where can the detailed policies be found?

Purpose Specifications: Completion and support of activity for which data was provided Web site and system administration Research and development One-time tailoring Pseudonymous analysis Pseudonymous decision Individual analysis Individual decision Contacting visitors for marketing of services or products Historical preservation Contacting visitors for marketing of services or products via telephone Other purpose

What P3P Accomplishes Makes privacy notices easy to locate and easy to understand. Allows users to specify their privacy preferences once so that they can be automatically compared to a web site’s privacy policy. Assists users in making decisions about when to disclose personal information, how much, and to whom.

What P3P Does NOT Accomplish Does NOT replace privacy regulations. Can NOT protect the privacy of users in jurisdictions with insufficient data privacy laws. Can NOT ensure the companies or organizations follow their stated privacy policies. “P3P does not protect privacy, in and of itself. It does, however, help create a framework for informed choice on the part of consumers. Any efficacy that P3P has is dependent upon the substantive privacy rules established through other processes – be they a result of regulatory, self-regulatory, or public pressure.”

Controversy over P3P “In the context of proper legislation, P3P is the most promising solution to cyberspace privacy. It will make it easy for companies to explain their practices in a form that computers can read, and make it easy for consumers to express their preferences in a way that computers will automatically respect.” – Professor Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School.

Controversy over P3P P3P is: a) Pretty Poor Privacy, b) a Pretext for Privacy Procrastination, and c) “a tacit acceptance of the great increase in the tracking and monitoring of our minor activities that take place over the Web.” – Karen Coyle, Information Technology Specialist, University of California

Support for P3P Provides notice and consent Promotes transparency and accountability Intuitive Flexible and global Worthwhile process

Criticism of P3P Lack of enforcement Used as a procrastination tool Unclear legal consequences Importance of default settings Unable to maintain current experience Expensive to implement and maintain Overly broad and vague purpose specifications Ultimatum-style communication

More Criticism of P3P Consumer and business confusion Rejected by the European Union Lack of actual choice Assumes the need to gather information Does not address third party data collection Lack of control over an irreversible choice

Basic Conflict What is the real problem? Lack of knowledge about how information will be used? OR The gathering of the data itself?

Universal Agreement Enforcement mechanisms are needed. “A technical platform for privacy protection…must be applied within the context of a framework of enforceable data protection rules, which provide a minimum and non- negotiable level of privacy protection for all individuals. Use of P3P in the absence of such a framework risks shifting the onus primarily onto the individual user to protect himself” – European Commission, 1998.