P3P

A specification that allows users' Web browsers to automatically understand Web sites' privacy practices. P3P works like this: Privacy policies will be embedded in the code of a Web site; browsers will read the policy and then automatically provide certain information to the site, depending on the type of site and the preferences set by the user.

For example, if the user visits an e-commerce site, the browser will automatically provide shipping info; if the site is requesting demographic info, the browser will know to provide it anonymously. P3P was developed by member organizations of the W3C and experts in the field of Web privacy, and it is based on W3C specifications that have already been established, including HTTP, RDF, and XML.