The importance of search technologies to the online ecosystem cannot be overstressed. Search platforms like Google—which controls over 75 percent of the U.S. market—serve as the launching pad for hundreds of millions of online journeys every day, and"search plays a role in roughly half of all online purchases, according to DoubleClick's research. One problem with the online search process, however, is that it is essentially a two-way mirror: while we seek information on various topics, and click from site to site in quest of answers to our queries, companies like Google and Yahoo (and their legions of advertising clients) are watching our every move, compiling data, inferring tastes and interests, and assembling extensive profiles that will shape the content that will come our way in the future.