In a long-anticipated move, Adware pioneer Claria announced Tuesday that by June it would leave that business much maligned by online publishers, consumer groups and privacy advocate, reports the Associated Press. Claria said last summer that it would be focusing on new personalization services, and now says it has hired Deutsche Bank Securities to help sell its adware assets.

Claria, originally called Gator, said it would require any buyer of its adware assets to adhere to standards outlined by Truste and other privacy groups.

Claria said in the past year it has "focused strategically on developing a next generation platform designed to provide consumers with a highly personalized internet experience," and that it "will unveil major partnerships around this new technology and launch the beta version of PersonalWeb, the first consumer application using this platform."

PersonalWeb automatically generates "personalized web portals" based on the user's online behavior; someone who has checked sports scores might get a page showing items from ESPN, along with targeted ads from BehaviorLink, Claria's ad network.

Previous coverage:

- Direct Revenue to Clean up Act with Behavioral Network
- In Adware, It's Survival of the Sneakiest
- Claria Revamps Management, Readies for Metamorphosis
- New Claria Service Shuns Pop-Ups
- Claria Tests Personalized Search
- Microsoft Calls off Claria Deal
- Claria Quits Collaboration with Kazaa
- Claria PersonalWeb to Customize Content to Browsing Behavior
- WSJ: Claria is Bad, Bad Company Toying with Idea of Going Straight
- Claria to Launch Web Analytics Effort
- Claria Privacy Officer Named to Homeland Security Committee
- Claria Lowers Purchasing Expectations, Predicts High BehaviorLink Margins
- New Claria Behavioral Net to Buy $100 Million of Banners