If you're concerned about privacy, you can't ignore Microsoft. The Colossus of Redmond is at the center of setting standards for the way information is used and shared online. Last year, it released a new version of its Internet Explorer browser embedded with the Platform for Privacy Preferences, a specification that enables the browser to automatically understand a Web site's privacy practices (see BW Online, 12/14/01, Microsoft's Cookie Monster). Then in January, Bill Gates announced the Trustworthy Computing Initiative, a companywide effort to make Microsoft products more secure and privacy-friendly.

Richard Purcell, Microsoft's director of corporate privacy, is the man charged with making it all happen. An avid rock climber, Purcell knows it won't be easy to scale privacy's rough terrain. It's all about trust, Purcell points out. And many consumers, it seems, don't completely trust Microsoft. Recently, I discussed with Purcell Microsoft's approach to protecting users' information. Here are edited excerpts from our conversation:

Q: Do you believe that privacy is more at risk than ever before?

A: It's important right now to understand that privacy issues are not new issues. They're just being talked about in new ways. It's a lot like date rape. Is date rape a brand-new issue? No. It has been going on for centuries. But it's [now] being reported and talked about and disclosed and admitted to -- albeit in an uncomfortable way. But you know what? We're working it out. We're talking about it. Overtly now.