  A variety of tools have been introduced recently that are designed to help
people protect their privacy on the Internet. These tools perform many
different functions in-cluding encrypting and/or anonymizing communications,
preventing the use of persistent identifiers such as cookies, automatically
fetching and analyzing web site privacy policies, and displaying
privacy-related information to users. This paper discusses the set of privacy
tools that aim specifically at facilitating notice and choice about Web site
data practices. While these tools may also have components that perform other
functions such as encryption, or they may be able to work in conjunction with
other privacy tools, the primary pur-pose of these tools is to help make users
aware of web site privacy practices and to make it easier for users to make
informed choices about when to provide data to web sites. Examples of such
tools include the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) and various
infomediary services.

Computers and Society