P3P Privacy Standard Faces Adoption Challenges In Web Development

Six months after its recommendation as an Internet standard, a major privacy initiative is entering an awkward adolescence as software heavyweights adopt it and individual Web sites leave it to languish. . .

Six months after its recommendation as an Internet standard, a major privacy initiative is entering an awkward adolescence as software heavyweights adopt it and individual Web sites leave it to languish.

In ordinary economic times, a protocol like the World Wide Web Consortium's Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) might have a hard time gaining acceptance in the marketplace, as mainstream consumers generally exhibit lax security practices when it comes to their own online privacy.

But in an economic downturn, the privacy protocol also is subject to disinterest by Web developers with scarce resources