Issuing an open letter to the public, Ask.com has outlined the hows and whys of its latest website development - the addition of a link to its privacy policy on its homepage and company pages, following a request from privacy advocates that Google should do the same.Though the addition is only a minor change to the site, the move is significant because it seems to be the result of Google's refusal to add a privacy link to its renowned minimalist homepage, despite the search giant being contacted and requested to do so by London-based group Privacy International.
Ask.com's open letter states that the company agrees commercial websites ought to provide a link to their privacy policy and has therefore added such links to all of their main pages, landing pages, and has even gone as far as to create special results pages that will appear when users search for the terms "Ask Privacy" and "Privacy".
Ask.com also stresses that the move was not pushed on them: "No one required that we take any of these steps. We took a look at our webpages, and realized we could make some key improvements when it came to privacy links on our service".
However, a few comments in the letter are clearly directed at a certain major search company, indicating that Ask.com's reasons behind the addition of the link - which is common to most websites - might not have been about personal improvement alone.
"It's simply the right thing to do," Ask.com said. "We strongly encourage others in the search marketplace and online industry to do the same".
This isn't the first time Ask has tried to differentiate its privacy offerings from its main competitors. In December last year, it launched AskEraser, a tool that enables users to wipe their search history simply by turning the function on.
As long as Google continues to come under fire for its privacy policy, it seems that Ask.com will continue to do its part to win over any uncomfortable searchers keen to distance themselves from the search giant.
