“In addition to industry stalwarts such as Symantec Corp…,
which includes privacy features in its commercial Internet security
software suite, a growing number of start-ups are moving into the
business of selling us back our online anonymity. “
“These newly emerging purveyors of privacy… have devised ways
that allow Web surfers to cover their tracks.
…Zero-Knowledge Corp., is betting that ‘identity
management’ will become a valuable service to people who want the
benefits of user profiling, while at the same time avoiding the
perceived dangers.”
“The Montreal, Canada, start-up sells a privacy-management
program called Freedom, which allows users to surf the Internet
using any number of pseudonyms, and covers their online tracks by
routing them through a network of servers that encrypt their
digital ID-card information. In that way, the company
allows Web surfers to selectively reveal what information they
want to share. … ‘You can have separate identities for the
separate parts of your life,’ Hill added. ‘For example, you can
have a health-care identity that you use to discuss your health
care problems, and a separate identity that you use to apply for
health insurance, which is your true identity. But now, those two
identities are separated.’ “