For more info on a specific newsletter, click the title. Details will be displayed in a new window.
Subscribe to
Computerworld 40 years of the most authoritative source of news and information for IT leaders.
Meeting to mull privacy standard's next step
or
Other Privacy Stories
|
|
|
|
November 11, 2002 (Computerworld) -- WASHINGTON -- The Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) was released in April, and so far about 18% of the top 500 Web sites are using it. But the rate of new adoptions of this privacy specification is glacial -- about 1% a month among top sites -- and financial services, the industry that handles some of the most sensitive personal information, has a much lower-than-average P3P adoption rate.
This week the people and companies behind the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) P3P standard will meet to talk about the future of the spec and whether a Version 2.0 is needed or whether some tweaking to Version 1.0 can address issues raised by industry groups.
One concern is that the spec's "vocabulary" isn't rich enough to allow exact translation of a written privacy policy into a machine-readable one.
Because of that problem, the Financial Services Roundtable's BITS technology group, a Washington-based industry association representing some of the largest financial services companies, wants the W3C "to state explicitly" that P3P statements "are not meant to be legally binding documents," according to a position paper prepared for this week's meeting at America Online Inc.'s facilities in Dulles, Va.
The legal uncertainty of P3P is a big issue, said Lorrie Cranor, a principal technical staff member at AT&T Labs-Research and chairman of the P3P Specification Working Group. But the W3C "can't give a definitive answer, because we don't write the laws."
Only 11% of top finance and investing Web sites have adopted P3P, vs. 18% overall for the top 500 sites, according to Ernst & Young LLP, which began reporting on P3P adoption in August.
At the current rate, it will take eight years or so for P3P to get fully adopted, said Brian Tretick, a principal at Ernst & Young. One reason for the sluggish rate of adoption is the economy, since some companies are interested in it but don't want to spend the money. Another is uncertainty about how P3P policies will be enforced.
At this week's meeting, the P3P working group may look at the idea of developing negotiation ability into P3P, said Cranor. As it stands, when a P3P-capable Web browser interacts with a Web site, the browser reacts based on the user's privacy preferences in a yes/no manner. Negotiation ability would allow a company to interact with the user and, for instance, offer a coupon in exchange for privacy information. This would also complicate things, requiring varying privacy policies to handle the results of any negotiations, she said.
Despite various issues to be hammered out, Tretick believes that as long as Internet Explorer and Netscape support P3P, the specification isn't going away and that firms will have to deal with it or risk losing some of their ability, for instance, to use persistent cookies with some customers.
|
Print this Story |
|
Send Us Feedback |
|
E-mail this Story |
|
Digg this Story |
|
Slashdot this Story |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone Data Center Management Zone Enterprise-Class Security Zone The File Data Management Zone Grid Computing on Windows Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Storage Virtualization Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone |
 See your link here
|
 |
||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
|
Why SaaS is Vital to Email and Web Security
Download this Executive Bulletin (a $49.95 value) for free, compliments of MessageLabs.
Get this white paper now!
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
- Microsoft promises four patches next week
- Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner
- Storm botnet stages Fourth of July attacks
- More top stories
Security Management ZoneSecurity management is the process of developing a comprehensive data protection plan. It takes into account all potential threats, the existing network environment, the future needs of the organization, and lays out a multi-tiered blueprint to integrate the security technology needed to combat these threats. CDW can help keep your network and data secure. Visit the CDW Security Management Zone now See All Zones
|
 In SecuritySecurity's important, and risk must be addressed, right? Sure, but watch for four signs your policies go a bit overboard. Click here to read the latest column by Jon Espenschied |
Computerworld Technology Briefing: An open-source path to optimal virtualization Looking for a virtualization strategy that offers both the flexibility and reliability to meet the demands of mixed-source environments? Look no further than the fast-emerging open virtualization approach backed by some of the biggest names in enterprise computing. Together they are pointing the way toward higher data center performance without higher costs.Download this briefing
|
CIO
Computerworld
CSO
DEMO
GamePro
Games.net
IDG Connect
IDG World Expo
Infoworld
The Industry Standard
ITworld
JavaWorld
LinuxWorld
MacUser
Macworld
Network World
PC World
Playlist
Copyright © 2008 Computerworld Inc. All
rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium
without express written permission of Computerworld Inc. is prohibited.
Computerworld and Computerworld.com and the respective logos are
trademarks of International Data Group Inc.
|
