08 Aug 2007, ST
SAN FRANCISCO - A US web firm is preparing to launch an ambitious Internet search engine that it hopes will eventually track down the names of the world's six billion people.
Spock.com says it has already indexed 100 million people and is adding a million names per day on the invitation-only, beta version of its website, which will be made available to the public later this month.
'How Google allows you to type anything and gives you a web document result, we give you results around people,' said Spock.com co-founder Jay Bhatti.
The founders of Spock.com hope the website will eventually provide a search result for everyone in the world.
To index individuals, it scours through social networking websites such as MySpace, Friendster and Bebo.
But it also allows web surfers to add information about individuals to help Spock.com compile full profiles.
The website has a system to filter out false information that could destroy its credibility, Mr Bhatti said.
Spock.com, which has secured US$7 million (S$10.6 million) in financing by venture capital firms, will be available for free and will make money through advertising.
The emergence of people search engines has sparked concerns over privacy rights.
Addressing the issue, Mr Bhatti said Spock.com allows a person to have his or her profile removed and ask the website to determine where the information came from.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
SAN FRANCISCO - A US web firm is preparing to launch an ambitious Internet search engine that it hopes will eventually track down the names of the world's six billion people.
Spock.com says it has already indexed 100 million people and is adding a million names per day on the invitation-only, beta version of its website, which will be made available to the public later this month.
'How Google allows you to type anything and gives you a web document result, we give you results around people,' said Spock.com co-founder Jay Bhatti.
The founders of Spock.com hope the website will eventually provide a search result for everyone in the world.
To index individuals, it scours through social networking websites such as MySpace, Friendster and Bebo.
But it also allows web surfers to add information about individuals to help Spock.com compile full profiles.
The website has a system to filter out false information that could destroy its credibility, Mr Bhatti said.
Spock.com, which has secured US$7 million (S$10.6 million) in financing by venture capital firms, will be available for free and will make money through advertising.
The emergence of people search engines has sparked concerns over privacy rights.
Addressing the issue, Mr Bhatti said Spock.com allows a person to have his or her profile removed and ask the website to determine where the information came from.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
1 comment:
I think you are wickedly good
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