IE 6 central to Passport privacy boost
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft will soon be offering better privacy and security for online consumers, but at a price: exclusive use--for now--of the company's forthcoming Internet Explorer 6.0 Web browser. Microsoft executives said on Wednesday that the company's Passport authentication service will soon support an emerging privacy standard called Platform for Privacy Preferences, or P3P. The standard is advocated by the World Wide Web Consortium, a Web standards body, and was adopted by Microsoft in June for use in its software. P3P allows Web users to define what types of information they are willing to give, as well as whether they mind sharing that information with outside parties. Internet surfers will receive a warning before visiting sites that go beyond the stated level. P3P is "a good thing, because it establishes a set of standards and guidelines vendors have to comply with" regarding privacy, said David Smith, an analyst with Gartner. "More privacy is always a good thing, and Microsoft is offering more privacy."