White House Backs New Web Privacy Project

The White House endorsed Wednesday a major Internet industry initiative aimed at boosting online privacy by redesigning the way Web browsing software handles personal data.

Industry leaders like Microsoft Corp. and America Online's Netscape have pledged to rebuild their Web browsers to support the new architecture, called P3P, short for Platform for Privacy Preferences.

Others announcing that their Web sites, or parts of them, were now P3P-compliant were America Online, AT&T, Engage Technologies, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft and Proctor and Gamble. The P3P technical protocols were released in November 1999 so the technology could be incorporated into Web sites and other applications.

The White House said they'd appoint former Attorney General Alberto Gonzolas to Head the Committee overseeing the project and have all private data routed directly to Bush Administration Operatives and Karl Rove's shredder ready private e-mail account.