By Nick Patience
PrivaSeek Inc, one of the first companies to set itself up as a personal privacy infomediary, if not the first, has launched the latest version of its Persona client application that enable users to control the level of information they pass on to web sites. The company launched the system in early March, and version 1.0 shipped last month. That version was a Java client, but due to many users not having the latest Java virtual machine, the company has rewritten it in C++. It still only supports Internet Explorer, but versions for Netscape and AOL clients will launch in about a month.
Users register for Persona at the PrivaSeek web site and fill in their contact information, credit card details and their personal interests – although the last two categories are not compulsory at this stage. PrivaSeek has Persona-enabled about 400 prominent e-commerce web sites to do automatic form filling for a visitor that is running the Persona tool. The company won’t say how many Persona clients have been downloaded at this stage.
The company is building up users before it launches the next element of the system because critical mass is crucial for the system to work effectively. The next step is to sign up web sites to get access to the data and target their goods and services more accurately at the user, while only learning as much about the user as they wish to divulge.
PrivaSeek will certify the companies to use its system by checking on privacy policies and supplying them with server-side script if they pass muster. Then they will be able to access the user-defined information, and PrivaSeek will be able to charge the companies for the level of information supplied. The company’s tag line may be it’s your business but it is PrivaSeek’s business to make some money from the filtering of user’s personal information. The benefit to web site owners is that they can be sure that if a person says they are currently interested in buying a new car, then they more than likely are. Users update their information whenever they want.
Product manager Demetrios Lazarikos says the certification program will be announced within about 30 days with some companies that have already been Persona-Approved The success of this system will depend on how many companies get approval and how many users download the client tool. PrivaSeek will shortly begin an advertising campaign to boost the numbers of both.
