Reflecting on Google’s recent decision to postpone third-party cookie deprecation, I can’t help but think: we’ve been here before. Back in 1999, I was part of a team working on the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) Project, a major W3C standards effort aimed at creating machine-readable privacy policies for the web.

P3P was ahead of its time. We envisioned a world where browsers could automatically read and evaluate website privacy policies, giving users more control over their data. This idea was notably supported by Internet Explorer, the dominant browser at the time.

However, P3P had a fatal flaw: trust. Anyone could claim anything in their P3P policy, and there was no way to verify it. I pushed hard for authenticated compact headers, but digital signature standards weren’t ready yet. Without this crucial piece, P3P eventually fell by the wayside.

Similar Challenges Being Faced Today

Fast forward to today, and we’re facing similar challenges. Google’s Privacy Sandbox and the broader industry efforts to replace third-party cookies are grappling with the same fundamental issues: How do we balance personalization with privacy? How do we ensure that privacy statements are trustworthy and enforceable?

Revisiting P3P concepts could provide valuable insights for our current privacy challenges. Imagine privacy policies that are not just machine-readable but also cryptographically signed and verified by responsible authorities. In this world, browsers can enforce these policies automatically, and users have granular control over their data without reading through pages of legalese. They can rely on recommended preferences from trusted authorities like the AARP or Consumers Union.

We now have regulations, blockchain technology, advanced cryptography, and a much more sophisticated understanding of online privacy. But the core principles of P3P – transparency, user control, and machine-readability – are still relevant.