diff --git a/privacy/src/privacy.c b/privacy/src/privacy.c
index e5c564bbd689..c2695757b3e3 100644
--- a/privacy/src/privacy.c
+++ b/privacy/src/privacy.c
@@ -261,6 +261,8 @@ extern int PRVCY_POLICY_FILE_NAME;
 PUBLIC void
 PRVCY_CheckStandardLocation(MWContext * context)
 {
+  XPDialogStrings *fileName = 0;
+  
   if (context) {
     History_entry * entry = SHIST_GetCurrent(&context->hist);
     URL_Struct *pUrl;
@@ -282,7 +284,13 @@ PRVCY_CheckStandardLocation(MWContext * context)
     /* Create a URL for privacy_policy.html */
     privacyURL = NET_ParseURL(entry->address, GET_PROTOCOL_PART | GET_HOST_PART);
     StrAllocCat(privacyURL, "/");
-    StrAllocCat(privacyURL, XP_GetDialogStrings(PRVCY_POLICY_FILE_NAME));
+    
+    // fixing a mess
+    fileName = XP_GetDialogStrings(PRVCY_POLICY_FILE_NAME);
+    if (fileName) StrAllocCat(privacyURL, fileName->contents);
+    // steve, this looks like a leak.  what is the lifetime of the XPDialogStrings
+    // "fileName" above supposed to be?  -joe
+    
     if (prvcy_inCache(privacyURL, &found)) {
       if (found) {
 	entry->privacy_policy_url = privacyURL;