Privacy report ???

[Lisa78]

WHAT? At the bottom of the screen, I now have a new icon; its an eye with a no entry sign, and when I put the mouse on it, it says "Privacy Report"
Its only on mumsnet, not the internet generally
Whats this anyone???

I don't have one

I have this sometimes - don't know what it is but its not there right now.

mine is! Am convinced I am being spied on by the mumsnet police

I know what this is and it's not put there by mumsnet - the icon you can see means that the site you are visiting does not have a privacy report.

Here's some info from the W3C site:

"The Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P), developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, is emerging as an industry standard providing a simple, automated way for users to gain more control over the use of personal information on Web sites they visit. At its most basic level, P3P is a standardized set of multiple-choice questions, covering all the major aspects of a Web site's privacy policies. Taken together, they present a clear snapshot of how a site handles personal information about its users. P3P-enabled Web sites make this information available in a standard, machine-readable format. P3P enabled browsers can "read" this snapshot automatically and compare it to the consumer's own set of privacy preferences. P3P enhances user control by putting privacy policies where users can find them, in a form users can understand, and, most importantly, enables users to act on what they see."

Hope that makes some sort of sense ...

sorry, I'm still half asleep. What I meant to add was that if a website hasn't got one of these P3P privacy reports, that green icon may appear in your browser status bar. As far as I've noticed, most sites haven't done a P3P report yet.

The lack of this report does not affect security, it is an initiative to inform internet users about any information any particular website may be collecting about them.

Didn't understand a word of that, tech2

I have it - its something to do with blocking cookies that use personal info ( not very techie but its a good thing isn't it??)

yes luckymum, if you have blocked cookies in internet options, the eye comes up when a cookie has been restricted or blocked. double click on the eye and you can get info of which cookies were on the page you are visiting.

I'm still baffled - can anyone translate into words of one syllable for me? Or do I have to ask DH and listen to him explain it to me with that slightly indulgent, patronising overtone to his voice that makes me want to SMACK HIM ONE

I used to have one but it has dissapeared. Never did know what it was for.

Dont worry. I haven't got a clue what you're all on about either...

cookies= little bits of information that are stored on your computer when you visit websites. These can be for all kinds of purposes, some good and some not so good.

If you choose to block cookies, the eye at the bottom of the page (in status bar, just above task bar)will be there to tell you that a cookie has been restricted or bloked.