P3P Purpose Definitions
P3P defines a number of data use purposes. The following are
the definitions of those purposes, taken directly from the P3P specification.
- Completion and support of the current activity (
<current/>
)
- Information may be used by the service provider to
complete the activity for which it was provided, whether a one-time
activity such as returning the results from a Web search, forwarding an
email message, or placing an order; or a recurring activity such as
providing a subscription service, or allowing access to an online
address book or electronic wallet.
- Web site and system administration (
<admin/>
)
- Information may
be used for the technical support of the Web site and its computer
system. This would include processing computer account information,
information used in the course of securing and maintaining the site, and
verification of Web site activity by the site or its agents.
- Research and development (
<develop/>
)
- Information may be used to
enhance, evaluate, or otherwise review the site, service, product, or
market. This does not include personal information used to tailor or
modify the content to the specific individual nor information used to
evaluate, target, profile or contact the individual.
- One-time tailoring (
<tailoring/>
)
- Information may be used to tailor
or modify content or design of the site where the information is used
only for a single visit to the site and not used for any kind of future
customization. For example, an online store that suggests other items a
visitor may wish to purchase based on the items he has already placed in
his shopping basket.
- Pseudonymous analysis of user behavior (
<pseudo-analysis/>
)
- Information may be used to
create or build a record of a particular individual or computer that is
tied to a pseudonymous identifier, without tying identified data (such
as name, address, phone number, or email address) to the record. This
profile will be used to determine the habits, interests, or other
characteristics of individuals for purpose of research, analysis and
reporting, but it will not be used to attempt to identify specific
individuals. For example, a marketer may wish to understand the
interests of visitors to different portions of a Web site.
- Pseudonymous decision-making (
<pseudo-decision/>
)
- Information may be used to
create or build a record of a particular individual or computer that is
tied to a pseudonymous identifier, without tying identified data (such
as name, address, phone number, or email address) to the record. This
profile will be used to determine the habits, interests, or other
characteristics of individuals to make a decision that directly
affects that individual, but it will not be used to attempt to
identify specific individuals. For example, a marketer may tailor or
modify content displayed to the browser based on pages viewed during
previous visits.
- Individual user analysis (
<individual-analysis/>
)
- Information may be used to
determine the habits, interests, or other characteristics of individuals
and combine it with identified data for the purpose of research,
analysis and reporting. For example, an online Web site for a
physical store may wish to analyze how online shoppers make offline
purchases.
- Individualized decision-making (
<individual-decision/>
)
- Information may be used to
determine the habits, interests, or other characteristics of individuals
and combine it with identified data to make a decision that directly
affects that individual. For example, an online store suggests
items a visitor may wish to purchase based on items he has purchased
during previous visits to the Web site.
- Contacting visitors for marketing (
<contact/>
)
- Information may be used to contact the individual,
through a communications channel other than voice telephone, for the
promotion of a product or service. This includes notifying visitors
about updates to the Web site. This does not include a direct reply to a
question or comment or customer service for a single transaction -- in
those cases,
<current/>
would be
used. In addition, this does not include marketing via customized Web
content or banner advertisements embedded in sites the user is visiting
-- these cases would be covered by the
<tailoring/>
,
<pseudo-analysis/>
and
<pseudo-decision/>
, or
<individual-analysis/>
and
<individual-decision/>
purposes.
- Historical preservation (
<historical/>
)
- Information may be archived
or stored for the purpose of preserving social history as governed by an
existing law or policy. This law or policy MUST be referenced in the
<DISPUTES>
element and MUST include a specific
definition of the type of qualified researcher who can access the
information, where this information will be stored and specifically how
this collection advances the preservation of history.
- Contacting visitors for marketing by telephone (
<telemarketing/>
)
- Information may be used to contact the individual
via a voice telephone call for promotion of a product or service. This
does not include a direct reply to a question or comment or customer
service for a single transaction -- in those cases,
<current/>
would be used.
- Other purposes (
<other-purpose/>
)
- Information may be used in other ways not
captured by the above definitions.