Openads lets websites keep visits private

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — The British firm Openads is offering website operators an alternative to giant online ad firms accused of imperiling privacy by amassing data about people's Internet activities.

The start-up this month released a refined version of free open-source software that websites can use to target advertising without sharing users' data with Internet ad powerhouses such as DoubleClick.

"Fundamentally, the fewer hands that touch data the safer it is," Openads newly-appointed chief executive James Bilefield told AFP.

"Openads leaves the data with publishers. I don't think they are missing out by not sharing it with a DoubleClick. Privacy concerns have a habit of not going away."

The offering comes as Internet giant Google is buying...