ldyguique
04-15-2004, 08:49 AM
There is a lot of buzz going on this morning about Amazon launching a new search engine -- A9. At this time, it's coordinated with a combination of an Amazon's customer information and is currently utilizing Google, although a revised google.
ClickZ Network site SearchEngineWatch.com (http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3340581) reports:
Amazon.com's A9 division is beta testing its own search portal at A9.com, a move that places a new player in the search game and begins to explore the boundaries of personalization.
The site, and its accompanying toolbar, pull together various elements previously available on Amazon.com in a unique way. Data comes from partner Google, the Amazon.com site and its Alexa division. Three separate columns of results include natural search results, the ability to access Alexa's "what's related" features, book excerpt results from Amazon.com's offerings and the user's history. Personalization features, which use the Amazon.com login and cookie, are probably the most revolutionary part of the offering -- not because of their current form, but because of their potential.
A9.com is the first public endeavor of the e-commerce company's subsidiary, also called A9, which is run by search luminary Udi Manber. The company says it plans to develop search technology both for Amazon itself, and for unspecified types of third-party sites. Although Google is a partner, A9.com's launch places Amazon in a very interesting position in the ultra-competitive search market, now dominated by Google and Yahoo! It's a new standalone destination for search -- one with a built-in mechanism, Amazon.com, to drive plenty of traffic.
Technology News (http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=2&aid=D81V15M00_story)
A9.com's service currently relies heavily on a partnership with Google, which supplies many of the search results, and Amazon's Alexa subsidiary, which provides traffic, other sites of interest and additional information on specific Web sites. It weaves information from its partners into a single site.
Search results also include text ads from Google's sponsored links program.
Alison Diboll, an A9.com spokeswoman, declined to say whether the company plans to create its own search technology. She also would not say when the beta test would end but confirmed Amazon plans to use the technology to serve both its online store and the rest of the Web.
"Having this e-commerce search technology as a separate company is part of Amazon's continuing development from an online retailer to a technology services company," she said.
Google currently partners with more than 130 companies to supply search results, Google spokesman David Krane said. It's partnered with the Amazon online store since April 2003.
"A core component of our business ... has been providing access to Google from a number of entry points on the Web," he said.
Some filtering does appear to be taking place. A search of the word "porn" on A9.com, for instance, returned links to articles on the war against pornography, documentaries and anti-porn groups. A Google search on the same term returned actual porn sites.
Unlike other Internet search tools, users sign onto A9.com with a username and password from their regular Amazon.com account. A9 also offers an anonymous site that does not require a username and password but lacks some features.
A9.com's toolbar also provides a diary tool through which users can jot down notes about a particular Web site. Once entered, the notes can be read from any computer, after the user has logged on. The service also stores the addresses of sites visited and a history of searches.
A9.com made a strong effort to word its privacy policy in plain English, DiBoll said.
Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, said it's clearer than many now posted on the Web.
"I will give them kudos for the privacy policy in terms of its format, its readability and the fact they're giving viewers examples (of how information will be used)," she said.
She also said A9.com appears to be less invasive than Google's proposed free Gmail e-mail service, which will electronically scan messages so it can distribute relevant ads alongside incoming messages.
"If we're comparing strategies here, what A9 and Amazon.com are doing is a lot less intrusive from a privacy perspective than what Google is proposing in Gmail," she said.
However, not all of the buzz is good. CommsWorld (http://www1.commsworld.com.au/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=commsworld/home&var_el=art&art_id=1067861929049&var_sect=COMMENT&from=home) raises some very real concerns over privacy issues and views A9 as just another form of spyware.
It's the data-gathering which, combined with the terms and conditions notice, turns this site into one of those horrors where the corporation tries to own the life of the citizen.
If you register to the site - don't try this at home, kids, you have to be 13 years or older - you can get the "extras". For example, A9 will kindly remember your past queries, store them, and let you look through past searches.
Somewhere out in the world of IT innocence, there are still people who think a username and password make something secure. As if peoples' names can't be stolen; as if multiple users don't share one PC at home; as if there aren't people in the world who would not want their searches becoming public knowledge, even for legitimate reasons like job searching.
But it's the T&Cs that are the stinger.
A9 says that a visit to the site carries with it a consent for A9 to send me messages.
If I go further, and actually use the site to run a search, it claims copyright over everything from the search terms to its record of my past searches.
If I downloaded the A9 toolbar, I will have given A9 permission to collect information about every single site I visit (except those using HTTPS), which it would then share with Amazon (except that I'm not an Amazon customer). If the URL included personal identifier information (for example, if I'd entered my name into a CGI script field), A9 will track and keep that information.
John Battelle's Searchblog (http://battellemedia.com/archives/000575.php) has a very active set of discussions underway.
ClickZ Network site SearchEngineWatch.com (http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3340581) reports:
Amazon.com's A9 division is beta testing its own search portal at A9.com, a move that places a new player in the search game and begins to explore the boundaries of personalization.
The site, and its accompanying toolbar, pull together various elements previously available on Amazon.com in a unique way. Data comes from partner Google, the Amazon.com site and its Alexa division. Three separate columns of results include natural search results, the ability to access Alexa's "what's related" features, book excerpt results from Amazon.com's offerings and the user's history. Personalization features, which use the Amazon.com login and cookie, are probably the most revolutionary part of the offering -- not because of their current form, but because of their potential.
A9.com is the first public endeavor of the e-commerce company's subsidiary, also called A9, which is run by search luminary Udi Manber. The company says it plans to develop search technology both for Amazon itself, and for unspecified types of third-party sites. Although Google is a partner, A9.com's launch places Amazon in a very interesting position in the ultra-competitive search market, now dominated by Google and Yahoo! It's a new standalone destination for search -- one with a built-in mechanism, Amazon.com, to drive plenty of traffic.
Technology News (http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=2&aid=D81V15M00_story)
A9.com's service currently relies heavily on a partnership with Google, which supplies many of the search results, and Amazon's Alexa subsidiary, which provides traffic, other sites of interest and additional information on specific Web sites. It weaves information from its partners into a single site.
Search results also include text ads from Google's sponsored links program.
Alison Diboll, an A9.com spokeswoman, declined to say whether the company plans to create its own search technology. She also would not say when the beta test would end but confirmed Amazon plans to use the technology to serve both its online store and the rest of the Web.
"Having this e-commerce search technology as a separate company is part of Amazon's continuing development from an online retailer to a technology services company," she said.
Google currently partners with more than 130 companies to supply search results, Google spokesman David Krane said. It's partnered with the Amazon online store since April 2003.
"A core component of our business ... has been providing access to Google from a number of entry points on the Web," he said.
Some filtering does appear to be taking place. A search of the word "porn" on A9.com, for instance, returned links to articles on the war against pornography, documentaries and anti-porn groups. A Google search on the same term returned actual porn sites.
Unlike other Internet search tools, users sign onto A9.com with a username and password from their regular Amazon.com account. A9 also offers an anonymous site that does not require a username and password but lacks some features.
A9.com's toolbar also provides a diary tool through which users can jot down notes about a particular Web site. Once entered, the notes can be read from any computer, after the user has logged on. The service also stores the addresses of sites visited and a history of searches.
A9.com made a strong effort to word its privacy policy in plain English, DiBoll said.
Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, said it's clearer than many now posted on the Web.
"I will give them kudos for the privacy policy in terms of its format, its readability and the fact they're giving viewers examples (of how information will be used)," she said.
She also said A9.com appears to be less invasive than Google's proposed free Gmail e-mail service, which will electronically scan messages so it can distribute relevant ads alongside incoming messages.
"If we're comparing strategies here, what A9 and Amazon.com are doing is a lot less intrusive from a privacy perspective than what Google is proposing in Gmail," she said.
However, not all of the buzz is good. CommsWorld (http://www1.commsworld.com.au/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=commsworld/home&var_el=art&art_id=1067861929049&var_sect=COMMENT&from=home) raises some very real concerns over privacy issues and views A9 as just another form of spyware.
It's the data-gathering which, combined with the terms and conditions notice, turns this site into one of those horrors where the corporation tries to own the life of the citizen.
If you register to the site - don't try this at home, kids, you have to be 13 years or older - you can get the "extras". For example, A9 will kindly remember your past queries, store them, and let you look through past searches.
Somewhere out in the world of IT innocence, there are still people who think a username and password make something secure. As if peoples' names can't be stolen; as if multiple users don't share one PC at home; as if there aren't people in the world who would not want their searches becoming public knowledge, even for legitimate reasons like job searching.
But it's the T&Cs that are the stinger.
A9 says that a visit to the site carries with it a consent for A9 to send me messages.
If I go further, and actually use the site to run a search, it claims copyright over everything from the search terms to its record of my past searches.
If I downloaded the A9 toolbar, I will have given A9 permission to collect information about every single site I visit (except those using HTTPS), which it would then share with Amazon (except that I'm not an Amazon customer). If the URL included personal identifier information (for example, if I'd entered my name into a CGI script field), A9 will track and keep that information.
John Battelle's Searchblog (http://battellemedia.com/archives/000575.php) has a very active set of discussions underway.