8 Web Firms Join Forces to Develop Privacy Initiative

Eight major Web companies announced a multimillion-dollar online privacy initiative Wednesday aimed at heading off legislation in Congress.

Microsoft, Excite, Lycos, Infoseek, Snap, Netscape, Yahoo and America Online unveiled the Privacy Partnership effort at the sixth annual Internet World convention in New York.

The online ad campaign, expected to be among the biggest ever, is aimed at educating consumers about privacy rights and encouraging companies to post clear and accessible policies dealing with the collection of personal data.

The campaign will take the form of donated banner ads on the Web sites of the participating companies from Monday until the end of the month. Web users will be able to click on a banner to see what they can do to protect their personal information online. Web publishers also will be able to join the program, get more information on privacy principles and tools to post a privacy policy online.

The Privacy Partnership is aimed at heading off pending legislation in Congress.