SafeWeb, whose Web site let users anonymously surf the Internet, is considering reopening its public site for business again.

The Emeryville, Calif.-based company had shuttered its service last month after it failed to gain some additional funding, but a campaign from fans of the site and service impressed company executives enough to reconsider.

"We have been overwhelmed by the response to the shutdown of our consumer privacy service," says SafeWeb president and co-founder Jon Chun. "We knew we had broad reach, but weren't expecting to receive this level of outside interest."

The consumer privacy service, which launched in October 2000, used virtual private networking technology to let Internet users bypass firewalls of governments, corporations, and others who attempted to censor the Web. At one time, SafeWeb was processing more than 4 million encrypted page views per day.

The company's online privacy service is still being used in conjunction with its project with Internet Broadcasting Bureau, and its subsidiary the Voice of America, to help Chinese Web surfers access sites banned by their government. SafeWeb also licenses its technology to others, including In-Q-Tel - the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency and PrivaSec LLC, which offers a version of SafeWeb's anonymous surfing service, called SurfSecure, for a fee.

But, since it turned off the service four weeks ago, SafeWeb says it has received thousands of phone calls and e-mails from users and has even been approached by several potential business partners that have persuaded the company to consider reviving the online privacy service.

"We will evaluate the prospects on an ongoing basis," says Chun. "The company's final decision will depend on whether there is a viable business model to ensure the privacy service is both sustainable and profitable. We care a great deal about privacy, but as a company, we also need to be profit-minded."

Chun says the company is now focused on launching its new product, the Secure Extranet Appliance (SEA), which is scheduled for launch in January 2002. The SEA, which is based on its core technology, lets companies build secure extranets so that remote employees, clients and partners can access internal applications and data securely using any Web browser.

LATEST NEWS

Google, BofA Lauded For Web Performance
Google's Open Source Project-Hosting Milestone
RSA Ramps Up Data Loss Prevention
Bing Continues to Gain Share
Nexus One: Failure or a Late Bloomer?