What is P3P?

The Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P), developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, is emerging as an industry standard providing a simple, automated way for users to gain more control over the use of personal information on the Web sites they visit.

At it's most basic level, P3P is a machine-readable vocabulary and syntax for describing a web site's privacy policies and information practices. Taken together, they present a clear snapshot of how a site handles personal information about its users.

P3P-enabled Web sites make this information available in a standard, machine-readable format. P3P-enabled user agents, such as web-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.

In short, the P3P specification brings ease and regularity to Web users wishing to decide whether‹and under what circumstances‹to disclose personal information. User confidence in online transactions increases as they are presented with meaningful information and choices about Web site privacy practices.

For more detailed information on how P3P works and how to implement it on your Web site, please visit P3P Toolbox's Implementation Guide.