The downloadable tool harnesses the power of the Google network and promises to make page access speedier by designating certain Google servers to Web Accelerator page requests and storing Internet usage data.
The new technology, which is only effective with broadband connections, copies frequently looked at pages to make them quickly accessible and downloads only the updates if a page has been changed since the last viewing.
Once Web Accelerator is downloaded, a toolbar appears on the browser page with a speedometer needle that indicates the download speed and whether Web Accelerator has been enabled. Web Accelerator can also prevent the rapid delivery of pages from particular sub domains or entire domains.
According to the search engine, for security reasons, Google Web Accelerator won't speed up pages encrypted with the HTTPS: protocol – such as bank record pages – and it will not work with data downloads, MP3 or streaming video files. Web Accelerator only functions with Windows XP or Windows 2000 operating systems and is compatible with the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.
But similar to other recent technology launches from Google like its Gmail service and My Google Search, privacy concerns have once again been raised by free speech advocates objecting to Google's ability to collect and keep personal user information on its servers, such as IP addresses and general search behavior, which cannot be deleted and could at some point be made accessible to law enforcement agencies investigating criminal or civil cases.
Although Google has so far countered those claims by saying that Web Accelerator receives much of the same kind of information that is currently sent to ISPs when users surf the Internet.
"The policies for the Google Web Accelerator, like those for Google.com, uphold the highest level of integrity and respect for our users' information," the search engine said in defense of privacy concerns. "Google will never rent or sell a user's personal information to third parties without a user's explicit permission.
While in beta, Web Accelerator will not reach optimum functionality with users in North America or Europe, Google said.
