We are particularly pleased that our recently-approved Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3) Project will be inaugurated with these two Submissions on its agenda. The Proposal for an Open Profiling Standard and the Privacy and Profiling on the Web documents are complementary. Though some details will need to be discussed and further consensus reached in the P3 Working Groups, we take encouragement from the very similar statements of purpose and requirements.
P3 will be asked to address additional areas not covered by the OPS and PPW proposals in their current form. We believe that work items such as information practice labeling and automatic negotiation of terms of exchange can readily be coordinated within the same framework incorporating these two Submissions.
One area we feel is still essential to address in a global communications protocol is the pluggability of authentication (certificate) and encryption mechanisms. There is a challenge in providing such pluggability while maintaining maximum interoperability, of course. The W3C Digital Signature effort has successfully addressed this challenge and we look forward to reusing portions of that foundation in the P3 activity.
Next Steps: The OPS and Web Privacy documents will be placed on the agenda for the relevant P3 Working Groups to discuss at an upcoming meeting.
Disclaimer: Placing these Submissions on a Working Group agenda does not imply endorsement by either the W3C Staff or the participants of the Working Group, nor does it guarantee that the Working Group will agree to take any specific action on a Submission.