The for-profit Privacy Council has launched a Web site to provide solutions for companies concerned with Internet privacy issues, CNET News reports.

Until now, online groups and the federal government have been wrangling about the need to protect consumer rights for Internet users. Sites routinely place "cookies" onto people's hard drives to track their surfing habits, and sometimes sell that information to other companies. The Privacy Council is the first group to offer a one-stop solution, CNET reports.

"Privacy is the personal Y2K issue in one sense," company CEO Gary Clayton said. "As laws are being enacted, executives are going to have to comply."

As reported earlier, a survey of 30,000 Web sites by Enonymous.com and PC Data revealed only 3 percent of the participants never share personal information, and close to 22,000 sites have no privacy policy. On the same day the study was released, America Online said it would no longer collect information on Web users younger than 13 years old. The study and AOL's decision came one week before the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act was implemented.

Many groups took action similar to AOL, but they have primarily been in-house efforts. The Privacy Council will provide companies with an assessment and diagnostic review to privacy risks and practices, compliance obligations and the use of employee and customer information.

Nonprofits will be interested in the free OECD privacy policy generator offered on the company's Web sites. It is an HTML tool that will guide organizations through policy development and help create a privacy statement to post on their Web site.

An English-language version of the software is in beta development. French, German and Japanese-language versions are available now.

In other Internet privacy news, the European Parliament is considering placing limits on the use of anonymous e-mail, to enhance the ability of the police to track cyber criminals. The European Committee for Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs last week accepted the restrictions, which would prohibit firms from processing e-mail messages without keeping records, Wired News reports.

Along similar bandwidth, a White House draft report suggested similar restrictions for the U.S.

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