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Online Compliance Officer to Enforce the Company's Consumer Protection Policies for Its Downloadable Software Applications

OAKLAND, Calif., June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Ask Jeeves, Inc., a leading provider of information retrieval technologies, brands and Internet advertising services, today announced that Steven Pickering has been appointed to the newly created position of Online Compliance Officer. Pickering, who reports to the General Counsel, will focus primarily on overseeing the Company's Fun Web Products and family of My Search toolbars on a variety of online consumer issues including online privacy, disclosure, and downloadable software practices.

"Our users are our most valuable asset across all of our brands, and it is essential that the actions of our partners are consistent with the policies we have in place to protect consumers," said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Ask Jeeves, Inc. "The Online Compliance Officer will enable us to monitor the actions of the third party partners and distributors of our Fun Web Products and My Search toolbars more effectively, ensuring that our downloadable products are properly delivered to consumers. We believe closer monitoring of partner policies and practices is required and we expect the industry as a whole will move in this direction as standards continue to evolve."

The Online Compliance Officer has a broad mandate, including ensuring that the Company's partners comply with the Company's Downloadable Software Guidelines ( http://sp.ask.com/softwareguidelines.html ). The Online Compliance Officer will also be responsible for maintaining close contact with industry associations and legislative bodies to ensure that all the products evolve with, and help define industry standards and practices.

"We own and operate a variety of search-based software applications such as our Fun Web Products and we strive to ensure the integrity of those products from development to download," continued Berkowitz. "The Online Compliance Officer will play an important role in ensuring that our products are distributed only to people that wish to affirmatively use them for the great functionality they offer."

Commenting on the appointment, Berkowitz said, "We are delighted to have Steve assume this important role. With more than eight years of legal experience and a clear understanding of the importance of this crucial area, Steve is a natural fit for this position."

Pickering started working with Ask Jeeves as outside securities counsel in early 2003 while at O'Melveny & Myers and joined the company as senior corporate counsel in 2004. He is a graduate of the Yale Law School and has over eight years experience in the field of legal and corporate compliance.

About Ask Jeeves, Inc.
As the 7th largest global web property (ComScore Media Metrix, April 2005), Ask Jeeves Inc. delivers world-class information retrieval products through a diverse portfolio of Web sites, portals and downloadable applications. Ask Jeeves' search and search-based portal brands include: Ask Jeeves (Ask.com, Ask.co.uk and es.Ask.com), the Ask Jeeves Japan joint venture (Ask.jp), Ask Jeeves for Kids (AJKids.com), Bloglines (bloglines.com), Excite (excite.com), iWon (iwon.com), My Way (myway.com), MySearch (mysearch.com) and Fun Web Products (funwebproducts.com). Additionally, Ask Jeeves owns the differentiated search technology Teoma, as well as natural language processing, portal and ad- serving technologies. Ask Jeeves generates revenue from advertisers seeking to reach the company's broad-based online audience.

Founded in 1996, Ask Jeeves has been a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq National Market since July 1999. Its headquarters are located in Oakland, California, with offices throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.Ask.com or call 510-985-7400.