IP: Re: Protecting your privacy

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

----Original Message-----
From:           "Lorrie Cranor" <lorrie () research att com>
To:             <farber () cis upenn edu>
Cc:             <golds () iname com>
Subject:        Re: Protecting your privacy 
Date:           Wednesday, January 12, 2000 8:16 AM

Dave,

Please let IP readers know that this article 
contains an outdated and inaccurate
description of P3P. For example, the article claims that 
"One problem with the system for automatically sending 
personal information to Web sites is that P3P makes it 
harder for users to provide false information, a technique 
used by many surfers to protect their privacy today. 
Another problem with P3P, as it is envisioned currently, 
is that it transmits a tremendous amount of personal 
information about the user to the Web site, but little 
information about the Web site is sent to the user to 
assist in making a privacy judgment."

The P3P specification no longer includes an automatic
data transfer mechanism. Even when the spec included
this mechanism, it also suggested that P3P user interfaces
allow users to setup multiple personae, some of which
could be fictitious.

My understanding is that the Boston Globe will be
printing a correction.

For the latest information on P3P, please see
http://www.w3.org/P3P/ Comments on the latest
draft of the spec are welcome and encouraged.

Regards,

Lorrie Cranor
P3P Specification Working Group Chair

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lorrie Faith Cranor <lorrie () research att com>
AT&T Labs-Research, Shannon Laboratory 
180 Park Ave. Room A241, Florham Park, NJ 07932 
Phone: 973-360-8607  FAX: 973-360-8970
http://www.research.att.com/~lorrie/



----- Original Message ----- 
From: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
To: <ip-sub-1 () majordomo pobox com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 7:31 AM
Subject: IP: Protecting your privacy 


> ----Original Message-----
> From:     golds () iname com
> To:         farber () cis upenn edu
> Subject:     Protecting your privacy 
> Date:    Tuesday, January 11, 2000 10:05 PM
>
> Dave,
>
> This article starts with a good discussion of why privacy issues are of 
> more than just personal concern, and then goes on to review some pros and 
> cons of the World Wide Web Consortium's Platform for Privacy Preferences 
> (P3P) project.
>
> Rich Goldschmidt
> golds () mail com
>
> http://www.digitalmass.com/news/daily/0106/pluggedin.html
>
> Protecting your privacy
> By Simson Garfinkel
> Globe Staff, 1/6/2000

<snip>