Search firm Ask.com has today sent out a letter to its users and the web community at large in which it sets out its privacy aims and ambitions.

The letter, which is simply signed "the Ask.com Team", has been sent out in response to calls from privacy advocates who are seeking to change the way that online firms operate. Its ambitions, which would represent "a commitment be a commercial web site to inform users about the company's privacy practices", were welcomed by Ask.com.

Privacy bodies have recently been asking that that search firms place a link on the front page of their sites which would take users through to the company privacy policies, in a bid to make them more transparent.

This call was welcomed by Ask.com, who said, "we take our commitment to user privacy and data protection very seriously. We've demonstrated this not just through words, but through deeds and actions… Ask has added a conspicuous link to our privacy policy right on our 'About' page, which is one click off our homepage.

With privacy becoming increasingly important to our users, we took a look at our web pages and realised we could make some key improvements when it came to privacy links on our service… We strongly encourage others in the search marketplace and online industry to do the same."