WSP 3 : A WEB SERVICE MODEL FOR PERSONAL PRIVACY PROTECTION Jacobus A. Ophoff and Reinhardt A. Botha Faculty of Computer Studies Port Elizabeth Technikon South Africa ∗ {jophoff,reinhard}@petech.ac.za Abstract This paper focuses on the use of new technologies to improve the levels of personal privacy. In this regard the WSP 3 (Web Service Model for Personal Privacy Protection) model is formulated. This model proposes a privacy protection scheme using Web Services. The WSP 3 model gives users control over their privacy and allows everyone to decide their own level of protection. By incorporating Web Services, the model also shows how new technologies can be used to offer solutions to existing problem areas. Keywords: Privacy, Web Services 1. Introduction The widespread adoption of the Internet by millions of users world- wide has considerably increased the scope of information flow. However, this has also increased the risk to individuals’ personal privacy over the last decade. Concern has grown over private information collection and to what extent individual control over that information can be main- tained. New service-based technologies are making it increasingly easier for organizations to pull information from a number of external sources. It has become relatively easy and cheap to cross-correlate and share information through the Internet. The price for these capabilities comes at a high cost to personal information – control over personal information * The financial assistance of the Department of Labour (DoL) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the DoL.