SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- PrivacyChoice.org, a leading independent provider of consumer privacy tools, has announced support for the new tracking controls in Internet Explorer 9. The combination of IE9's functionality and PrivacyChoice's extensive database will provide the easiest and most effective tracking controls available for consumers. PrivacyChoice will offer its set of customized Tracking Protection Lists immediately upon availability of the new IE9 functionality, expected in the first quarter of 2011.

Microsoft recently announced that IE9 will enable users to import independently curated lists of third party domains, which can be blocked or allowed access to a user's browser. PrivacyChoice-curated lists for IE9 will be based on the Tracking Company Index, which includes hundreds of tracking companies, their domains and methods used for behavioral tracking, their self-regulatory certifications and their key privacy policies. This rich dataset provides the backbone for a consumer privacy experience in IE9 that is powerful, transparent, customizable and always up to date.

"Nearly 400,000 consumers have turned to PrivacyChoice to set their preferences for online tracking," said Jim Brock, PrivacyChoice Founder and former Yahoo! senior executive. "Microsoft's new tracking controls are a watershed development in online privacy that other browser makers will need to match. Integrating our data with these tools is core to our mission to make online privacy easier for consumers and websites."

IE9 users will be able to choose and easily install free Tracking Protection Lists at www.privacychoice.org. Choices will include complete blocking (all indexed companies), blocking for companies without self-regulatory oversight, and blocking based on specific company privacy practices (such as the use of personally identifiable information). As part of the initiative, PrivacyChoice also will enable tracking companies to certify specific domains used for tracking, and to segregate them from domains used for non-tracking purposes. PrivacyChoice also will offer tools for websites to create and offer their own customized tracking protection lists that leverage the PrivacyChoice database.

"True tracking control through the browser will revolutionize not only consumer privacy, but also the value-exchange between consumers, websites and marketing companies," Brock said. "Improved consumer choice will require that websites and tracking companies make the benefits of ad targeting more clear and tangible. Our offerings are aimed at supporting this value-exchange for the benefit of all players, including informed consumers."

PrivacyChoice already provides cookie-based tracking control lists through TrackerBlock for Internet Explorer, which is available for current versions of IE, and TrackerBlock for Firefox, a browser add-on. With the addition of Tracking Protection Lists in IE9, consumers will have better assurance that tracking preferences will be enforced not only as to cookies, but also exotic tracking methods such as Flash cookies and browser fingerprinting.

About PrivacyChoice

Founded in early 2009, the PrivacyChoice mission is to make online privacy easier for consumers and websites. PrivacyChoice offers a suite of privacy tools for tracking awareness (TrackerScan), tracking control (TrackerBlock) and automated website privacy disclosure (PrivacyWidget). The PrivacyChoice database and tools have been featured in the Wall Street Journal's online privacy coverage, and were cited in the FTC's recent privacy report.