Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, Apple, privacy groups, and online advertising associations are working to balance consumers' interests with websites' requirements for user data. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the standards body that develops the protocols and guidelines for the Web, wants to help users control how their personal data is managed. New tools being developed will shield personal data and reveal when sites do not honour privacy requests. "Do Not Track" refers to giving consumers the ability to opt out of having their personal information and online browsing habits tracked by advertisers, marketers, and websites in general. The working group has just started and more than 15 firms and organisations are involved in the "Do Not Track" work. The finished technologies are expected to be implemented by browser makers first in mid-2012 with websites following soon after as they get to grips with the best practices. These tools may be useful to Further and Higher education institutions when revising their data collection practices in line with their obligations under the new cookie regulations - http://tinyurl.com/jisclegalcookies. Further details on the World Wide Web Consortium website at - http://www.w3.org/.