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327 lines
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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<title>1999 Historical View -- W3C Technology & Society Domain</title>
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</head>
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<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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<p><a href="http://www.w3.org/"><img width="72" src="/Icons/w3c_home.gif"
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height="48" alt="W3C" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.w3.org/TandS"><img
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src="/Icons/tands.gif" alt="Technology and Society" height="48" width="212"
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border="0"></a></p>
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<p><strong>OBSOLETE: 1999 Overview Page</strong></p>
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<h1>The Technology & Society Domain:</h1>
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<p><b><font size="+1">Understanding the social impact of the Web and reaching
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out to affected communities</font></b>.</p>
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<p align="center">[<a href="#Metdata">Metadata</a> | <a href="#Signature">XML
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Signature</a> | <a href="#P3P">Privacy: P3P</a>| <a
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href="#Ecommerce">Electronic Commerce</a> | <a href="#Policy">Public
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Policy</a>]</p>
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<h2>Mission</h2>
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<p>The explosive growth of technology has forced the entire Web community to
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look at society's ethical and legal issues from a new international
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perspective. The Technology & Society Domain seeks to understand these
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issues in light of new technology -- partly by changing the technology, and
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partly by educating users about the technology's benefits, costs, and limits.
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<br>
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</p>
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<hr>
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<h2>News</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/p3pdeployment">The Platform for Privacy
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Preferences 1.0 Deployment Guide</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/07/xkms-ws/cfp.html">Workshop on XML
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Key Management</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core/">XML Signature Syntax and
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Processing</a> - Candidate Recommendation</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-c14n">Canonical XML Version 1.0</a> -
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W3C Recommendation</li>
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<li><a href="/2000/12/drm-ws/">Workshop on Digital Rights Management for
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the Web</a> (January 2001)</li>
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<li>P3P <a href="/TR/2000/CR-P3P-20001215/Overview.html">Candidate
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Recommendation Draft</a> (December 2000)</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-c14n ">Canonical XML</a> and <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core/ ">XML Signature</a> Candidate
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Recommendation (November 2000)</li>
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<li><a
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href="http://www.w3.org/2000/11/02-xml-encryption-ws/minutes.html">XML
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Encryption workshop</a> (November 2000)</li>
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<li>P3P patent infringement issue clarified: W3C issued a legal <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/TR/P3P-analysis">analysis</a> finding that P3P
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does not infringe the Intermind patent [<a
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href="http://www.w3.org/1999/10/28-P3P-IntermindPatentAnalysis-PressRelease">Press
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Release</a>, <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/P3P-analysis">Patent
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Analysis</a>] (October 28 1999)</li>
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<li>Common Markup for Micropayment Last Call <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-Micropayment-Markup/">Draft</a> (August 25
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1999)</li>
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<li>"<a
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href="http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/NOTE-schema-arch-19991007">Cambridge
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Communiqué</a>": Members of the RDF & XML Schema working groups
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clarify the relationship between XML and RDF Schema specs and outline a
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work program for harmonizing approaches to Web data architecture.
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(October 7 1999)</li>
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<li>RDF <a href="http://www.w3.org/RDF/IGcharter">Interest Group</a>
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Launched (August 20 1999)</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/Signature/">XML Signature Working Group</a>
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launched jointly with IETF. (June 1999) </li>
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</ul>
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<hr>
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<h2>Introduction: Trust on the Web</h2>
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<p>The W3C Technology and Society Domain concentrates on issues that arise
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from applications of Web technology. This includes devoting significant
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resources to international public policy issues, including a full-time policy
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analyst. Since Web technology cuts across nations and cultures, W3C is
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committed to designing mechanisms which will support a diverse range of <a
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href="/Policy/Overview.html">public policy options</a>. Local policy control
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must be possible without cultural fragmentation or domination. In turn, W3C's
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Team and its Members work to educate the public and policy makers about the
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Web's capabilities, and how these affect, and are affected by, proposed
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policies. Our current focus is, broadly, on establishing trust in the new
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medium of the Web. This is a difficult problem, involving both social and
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technical issues. Trust is established through a complex and ill-understood
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social mechanism including relationships, social norms, laws, regulations,
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traditions, and track records. Our activities are chosen to focus on specific
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areas that are both important and tractable. There is a core of technical
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issues that are required in any system that is to be trusted:</p>
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<ol>
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<li>The ability to <b>make statements</b> that have agreed upon meanings.
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The W3C <a href="/Metadata/">Metadata Activity</a> provides a means to
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create machine-readable statements.</li>
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<li>The ability to know <b>who made the statement</b> and to be assured
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that the statement is really theirs. The W3C <a href="/DSig">Digital
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Signature Initiative</a> provides a mechanism for signing metadata in
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order to establish who is making the machine-readable statement.</li>
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<li>The ability to <b>establish rules</b> that permit actions to be taken,
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based on the statements and a relationship to those who made the
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statements. The <a href="/TR/PR-PICSRules">PICS Rules</a> specification
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allows rules to be written down so they can be understood by machines and
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exchanged by users.</li>
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<li>The ability to <b>negotiate</b> binding terms and conditions. The
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now-completed <a href="/ECommerce/JEPI.html">JEPI project</a> created the
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<a href="/Protocols/PEP">Protocol Extension Protocol</a> (PEP) to provide
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for negotiation on the Web. Negotiation is also at the core of the <a
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href="/P3P">Platform for Privacy Preferences Project</a> (P3P).</li>
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</ol>
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<hr>
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<h2>Domain Activities</h2>
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<h2><a href="/Metadata/" name="Metdata">Metadata</a></h2>
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<p>Metadata means "data about data" or "information about information" but
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probably more importantly now it should be taken to mean "machine
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understandable information, about information on the web". The Metadata
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activity was formed in 1997 from the recognition within the Consortium of a
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common subtask to existing activities such as <a href="/PICS">PICS</a> and <a
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href="/DSig">DSig</a> at W3C, <a href="/Protocols/">HTTP</a> and <a
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href="http://www.ics.uci.edu/~ejw/authoring/">WebDAV</a> at the IETF, the <a
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href="http://purl.org/metadata/dublin_core">Dublin Core</a> and many other
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projects.</p>
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<p>The Metadata activity is the architectural underpinning of many of the
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Technology and Society activities. W3C's work on Digital Signatures, Privacy
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Protection, and Intellectual Property Rights Management are all based on the
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Resource Description Framework (RDF) work that is at the heart of the
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Metadata Activity. In addition, W3C is commited to creating a graceful
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transition from its current metadata technology (PICS) to RDF.</p>
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<p>A full set of charters for the Metadata activities has been sent to the
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W3C Advisory Committee for approval:</p>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="/Metadata/Activity">The Activity statement of the Metadata
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Activity</a></li>
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<li>[members only] <a href="/Metadata/Group/CGcharter">The Metadata
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Coordination Group charter</a></li>
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<li><a href="/PICS/Interest/Charter">The PICS Interest Group
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charter</a></li>
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<li>[members only] <a href="/PICS/Rules/Group/Charter">The PICS Rules
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Working Group charter</a></li>
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<li>[members only] <a href="/RDF/Group/SyntaxCharter">The RDF Model and
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Syntax Working Group charter</a></li>
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<li>[members only] <a href="/RDF/Group/SchemaCharter">The RDF Schema
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Working Group charter</a></li>
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</ol>
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<p>Milestones for the RDF groups are assembled together on the [members only]
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<a href="/Metadata/Group">Metadata Coordination Group's home page</a>.</p>
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<h2><a href="/Signature/Overview.html" name="Signature">XML Signature
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(xmldsig)</a></h2>
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<p>One element of trust is the ability to reliably associate a statement with
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the person or organization who made it. While the underlying cryptographic
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technology to accomplish this is available and widely known, it has not yet
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been applied to a general-purpose system for creating machine readable
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statements.</p>
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<p>Following a successful <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/DSig/signed-XML99/">workshop</a> on approaches to
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digital signatures, the W3C launched a joint <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Signature/">Working Group</a> on XML Signatures with
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the IETF. The Working Group's charter reflects the sentiment that an
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important first step toward building broader trust infrastructures on the Web
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is to develop a simple XML Signature syntax. Therefore, this Activity will
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not produce specifications for trust semantics beyond the simple facility to
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associate a signature key with a document. Key documents include:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-requirements">XML-Signature
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Requirements</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core/">XML Signature Core Syntax
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and Processing</a></li>
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</ul>
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<p>A related but earlier W3C Activity <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-DSig-label/">specified</a> a method of adding
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extensions to PICS 1.1 so as to sign PICS labels.</p>
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<h2><a href="/P3P/" name="P3P">Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)</a></h2>
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<p>This area involves the constant struggle between the need for Web content
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providers to gain information about their readership and the need for these
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individuals to control the release of this information to others. By
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generating more transparency on data collection practices, the recently
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initiated P3P Project will address the twin goals of meeting data protection
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expectations of consumers on the Web while assuring that the medium remains
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available and productive for electronic commerce. Following the principle of
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providing consumers notice of site privacy polices, and allowing users to
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express and act upon their privacy preferences in a flexible manner, one goal
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enhances the success of the other.</p>
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<h2><a href="/Policy" name="Policy">Public Policy Role</a></h2>
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<p>Since Web technology cuts across nations and cultures, W3C is committed to
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designing mechanisms which will support a diverse range of public policy
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options. Local policy control must be possible without cultural fragmentation
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or domination. In turn, W3C's Team and its Members work to educate the public
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and policy makers about the Web's capabilities, and how these affect, and are
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affected by, proposed policies.</p>
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<h2><a href="/ECommerce" name="Ecommerce">Electronic Commerce</a></h2>
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<p>An important factor in the growth of the Web is electronic commerce: the
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ability to buy, sell, and advertise goods and services to customers and
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consumers. The Web is a new communications medium and, like all new media,
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requires us to rethink the existing solutions to age-old problems. The World
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Wide Web Consortium is concerned with the evolution of the medium itself. We
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must both understand the problems and work with our members to contribute to
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the solutions. The Electronic Commerce Interest Group is a forum designed to
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allow the members to share information with the Consortium staff and other
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members about problems and solutions, priorities and work underway in the
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area of Electronic Commerce.</p>
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<h2><a href="/Security" name="Security">Security</a></h2>
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<p>An important factor in the growth of the Web is the trust that can be
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placed in the quality, provenance, reliability, and privacy of information
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available from or transferred over the Web. The Web, while relying on the
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underlying security offered by the Internet, has trust and security problems
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related to the needs of applications, and these cannot be supplied strictly
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at the network level. The World Wide Web Consortium is concerned with the
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evolution of the Web, and that requires understanding the security and trust
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requirements placed on the applications that use the Web.</p>
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<hr>
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<h2><a href="www.w3.org/People/domain?domain=Technology+and+Society">About
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the Technology & Society Team</a></h2>
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<p>The <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/People/domain?domain=Technology+and+Society">Technology
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& Society Team</a> presently includes eight staff members. Daniel
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Weitzner is the Domain Leader. Danny joined the W3C Team in September,
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1998. Before joining the W3C, he was co-founder and Deputy Director of the
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Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet civil liberties organization
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in Washington, DC. He was also Deputy Policy Director of the Electronic
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Frontier Foundation. The team has expertise in a number of areas, including
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security, electronic commerce, intellectual property rights, and public
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policy. Furthermore, the team has considerable knowledge in project
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management and multilateral Member development groups. As of November 1999
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the team consists of:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#djweitzner%40w3.org">Daniel J. Weitzner</a> : Technology and
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Society Domain Leader and <a href="http://www.w3.org/Policy">Public
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Policy</a></li>
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<li><a href="#danbri%40w3.org">Dan Brickley</a> : <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Metadata/">Metadata</a> and<a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Metadata/RDF">RDF</a></li>
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<li><a href="#massimo%40w3.org">Massimo Marchiori</a> : <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/P3P">P3P</a> and <a href="/XML/Query">XML
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Query</a></li>
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<li><a href="#tmichel%40w3.org">Thierry Michel</a> : <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/ECommerce">Electronic Commerce</a> (<a
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href="http://www.w3.org/ECommerce/Micropayments">Micropayments</a>) and
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/">Synchronized Multimedia: <acronym
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title="Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language">SMIL</acronym></a></li>
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<li><a href="#reagle%40w3.org">Joseph Reagle</a> : <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Signature">XML Signatures</a> and <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Policy">Public Policy</a></li>
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<li><a href="#swick%40w3.org">Ralph Swick</a> : <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Metadata/">Metadata</a> and <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Metadata/RDF">RDF</a></li>
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<li><a href="#rigo%40w3.org">Rigo Wenning</a> : <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Policy">Public Policy</a>, <a
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href="/P3P/">P3P</a>, <a href="/2000/12/drm-ws/Overview.html">DRM</a> and
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European Liaisons</li>
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</ul>
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<hr>
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<h2>Future Work Items</h2>
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<h2><a href="/IPR/" name="IPR">Intellectual Property Rights</a></h2>
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<p>In early 1996, a number of Members expressed interest in having the
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Consortium work with them to address issues of protecting intellectual
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property on the Internet. Member concerns include clarifying their corporate
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positions on the subject and suggesting other organizations with whom W3C
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might wish to partner to further investigate policy issues. W3C is currently
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identifying in which areas it can be most helpful. <br>
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</p>
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<hr>
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<p><a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Copyright"
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rel="Copyright">Copyright</a> © 1999 <a href="http://www.w3.org/"><abbr
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title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</abbr></a> <sup>®</sup> (<a
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href="http://www.lcs.mit.edu/"> <abbr
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title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology">MIT</abbr></a>, <a
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href="http://www.inria.fr/"><abbr lang="fr"
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title="Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique">INRIA</abbr></a>,
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<a href="http://www.keio.ac.jp/">Keio</a>), All Rights Reserved. W3C <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Legal_Disclaimer">liability</a>,
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<a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#W3C_Trademarks">trademark</a>,
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents"
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rel="Copyright">document use</a> and <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-software"
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rel="Copyright">software licensing</a> rules apply. Your interactions with
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this site are in accordance with our <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/privacy-statement#Public">public</a>
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and <a
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href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/privacy-statement#Members">Member</a>
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privacy statements.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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