New research project aims to simplify data protection
Der Rechtsinformatiker Professor Christoph Sorge, Photo: © Karin Distler
The ddpp project (Decentralized Data Privacy Protocol) aims to make it easier for users to manage their privacy settings and to strengthen their digital sovereignty on the web. The Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE, which is leading the consortium, and researchers at Saarland University are developing an open web protocol that will allow users to manage their privacy preferences across multiple services at a location of their choice.
Saarland University is represented in the project by Professor Christoph Sorge and his team at the Chair of Legal Informatics.
The following text has been machine translated from the German with no human editing.
The following press release has been issued by the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering (IESE) in its capacity as consortium leader.
A protocol for greater digital sovereignty
Managing privacy settings poses significant challenges for many people. Consents and preferences are currently spread across a multitude of digital services, whilst existing solutions are often not very user-friendly. At the heart of the ddpp project is the development of a decentralised web protocol for data protection preferences. Instead of having to manage data protection settings separately within each individual service, users will in future be able to control their preferences via a so-called ‘Personal Privacy Preferences Place’ from a central location. The preferences are then automatically synchronised with the connected services. The aim is to strengthen privacy-friendliness, transparency and digital sovereignty, whilst at the same time creating a standardised, interoperable solution that can be integrated into existing digital services.
The project is based on the ‘Privacy by Default’ principle: privacy-friendly settings are to be technically supported from the outset, so that users can effectively protect their privacy without having to navigate complex settings or numerous consent requests. The project results are also intended to form the basis for potential standardisation and to introduce key concepts to relevant expert and standardisation bodies.
‘Many people today lose track of how their data is being used by various digital services. With ddpp, we are developing an approach designed to significantly simplify the management of such settings. If we succeed in establishing the protocol on a broad scale, it could give rise to a new standard for handling data protection preferences,” says Dr Frank Elberzhager, Head of the Architecture-Centric Engineering Department and project leader at Fraunhofer IESE.
Concrete benefits in key application areas
The relevance of standardised management of data protection preferences is particularly evident in two areas of application being investigated in the project. In the field of personalised advertising, users should not have to make decisions about cookies and data usage anew for every digital service. Instead, their data protection preferences could be set once and automatically applied across all services. This would reduce the need for repeated consent requests and strengthen users’ control over their own data.
A second use case involves health data. Here, a wide range of digital applications and connected devices process particularly sensitive information. The project is investigating how users can determine for themselves, even within such ecosystems, which health data they wish to share with which applications, and how these decisions can be implemented.
Technology and law considered together
Fraunhofer IESE is responsible for the technical design, development and evaluation of the protocol. This includes, amongst other things, the development of the protocol architecture, the prototyping of key components, user-centred interaction concepts, and the analysis of market and roll-out strategies. Saarland University is contributing its expertise in the fields of legal informatics, data protection law and regulatory frameworks. Together, the consortium is pursuing an interdisciplinary approach that brings together technical, legal and user-centred perspectives.
About the ddpp project
The ddpp (Decentralised Data Privacy Protocol) research project is developing an open, decentralised web protocol for the cross-service management of data privacy preferences. The aim is to establish a standardised and interoperable solution that simplifies data protection decisions for users whilst supporting organisations in implementing regulatory requirements in a manner that complies with data protection legislation. The project runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2029. The project partners are the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE (consortium lead) and Saarland University.
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of the funding scheme ‘Privacy Platform – IT Security Protects Privacy and Supports Democracy’. It contributes to strengthening privacy, informational self-determination and trustworthy digital infrastructures.
Academic contacts:
Professor Christoph Sorge (Saarland University): Email: christoph.sorge(at)uni-saarland.de , Tel.: +49 681 302 5120
Fabienne Bäcker (Fraunhofer IESE), email: fabienne.baecker(at)iese.fraunhofer.de
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