Tremendous response to Proposed User Search Privacy Standard, #Privacy.

November 06, 2006 (PRLEAP.COM) Technology News
DURHAM, NC — Response has been very positive to the standard for empowering user search privacy since it was proposed several weeks ago. www.PoundPrivacy.org is spearheading a search privacy revolution with its proposed #privacy standard.

Sample responses to the initiative are:
“important initiative”, “good idea that makes sense considering the recent AOL data release”, “this is a GREAT idea”, “support #privacy to show you care about online privacy” and “ GO Pound Privacy”. In addition, the # Privacy campaign has gained great support in the international community. There are now thousands of online mentions of the initiative with more each day.

Several industry leaders in the Search space have endorsed the initiative as well and it appears to be gaining momentum.

What it is:
The proposal is that the #privacy flag be added to the end of searches by users to tell the search engine ‘don’t track this query.’ In response, the search engine should not track the user by IP address or cookie, and the query should not be made public in keyword tools. The website carefully addresses the one exception to this capability – queries in which a crime is likely being committed (like the solicitation of child pornography) should be excluded from the #privacy flag.

www.PoundPrivacy.org contains an open letter addressed to the major four search engines – Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Ask – requesting that they adopt the #privacy standard. Additionally, the site offers ideas on ways individuals who agree with the standard can support the campaign, including blogging about it, linking to www.poundprivacy.org, and sending out emails to friends.


For more information about the PoundPrivacy.org website or campaign, visit http://www.poundprivacy.org, contact Bob Misita at (919) 459-1088 or releases@virante.com. You can show your support by placing the #Privacy seal on your website (http://www.poundprivacy.org/poundprivacy-seal-large.jpg).