Intel is offering an open-source-style license after consulting with a group of privacy law experts, according to the company's Web site.

The open-source licensing model was developed in conjunction with Intel's release of a location-aware software platform.

"Our collective vision is for the privacy-protective terms of the license to be eventually adopted by the open-source community, structured as an addendum to open-source licenses," according the company's Web site.

The concept of adapting the open-source licensing model to encourage a commitment to end-user privacy stems from conversations among researchers, academics and lawyers. The group began to discuss the concept shortly after Intel's development of a location-aware computing technology. After 18 months of discussions, the group came up with the plan to add an addendum to an open-source license.

"The addendum, as currently drafted, discloses to the end user what information is being collected and how long the information will be kept, and requires that the developer incorporate opt-out capability into the software systems based on the licensed code," according to the statement on the company's Web site.

The group plans to work with the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and the open-source community to refine the privacy addendum. The goal is to achieve OSI approval for the addendum, which could be "added to OSI-approved open source licenses for technology implicating end-user privacy concerns, and made available to the open source community at large," according to the statement.

"We believe this is an innovative approach to addressing privacy issues," the company stated.