A Protocol for Greater Digital Sovereignty

Managing privacy settings poses major challenges for many people. Today, consents and preferences are scattered across a multitude of digital services, while existing solutions are often not very user-friendly. At the heart of the ddpp project is the development of a decentralized web protocol for privacy preferences. Instead of having to manage privacy settings separately in each individual service, users will in the future be able to control their preferences from a central location via a so-called “Personal Privacy Preferences Place.” The preferences are then automatically synchronized with the connected services. The goal is to strengthen privacy, transparency, and digital sovereignty while simultaneously creating a standardized, interoperable solution that can be integrated into existing digital services.

The project is based on the “Privacy by Default” principle: privacy-friendly settings will be technically supported from the outset, so that users can effectively protect their privacy without having to wade through complex settings or numerous consent requests. The project results are also intended to form the basis for potential standardization and to introduce key concepts to relevant expert and standardization 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 these settings. If we succeed in widely establishing the protocol, it could lead to a new standard for handling privacy preferences,” says Dr. Frank Elberzhager, Department Head of Architecture-Centric Engineering and project manager at Fraunhofer IESE.

Concrete Benefits in Key Application Areas

The relevance of standardized management of privacy preferences is particularly evident in two application areas being investigated in the project. In the field of personalized advertising, users should not have to make decisions about cookies and data usage anew for every digital service. Instead, their privacy preferences could be set once and automatically applied across all services. This would reduce recurring consent requests and strengthen users’ control over their own data.

A second use case involves health data. Here, a multitude 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.

Combining Technology and Law

Fraunhofer IESE is responsible for the technical design, development, and evaluation of the protocol. This includes, among other things, the development of the protocol architecture, the prototyping of key components, user-centered interaction concepts, and the analysis of market and implementation strategies. Saarland University contributes its expertise in the fields of legal informatics, data protection law, and regulatory frameworks. Together, the consortium pursues an interdisciplinary approach that brings together technical, legal, and user-related perspectives.

About the ddpp Project

The ddpp (Decentralized Data Privacy Protocol) research project is developing an open, decentralized web protocol for the cross-service management of data privacy preferences. The goal is to establish a standardized and interoperable solution that simplifies data privacy decisions for users while also supporting companies in implementing regulatory requirements in compliance with data privacy laws. The project runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2029. Project partners are the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE (consortium lead) and Saarland University. 

The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of the grant initiative “Privacy Platform - IT Security Protects Privacy and Supports Democracy.” It contributes to strengthening privacy, informational self-determination, and trustworthy digital infrastructures.