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23-year-old Texan wins $1 million from mValue

Nitish S Rele

Mehul Patel of Austin, Texas, recently topped the 'Win a Million' contest offered by mValue.com Inc (www.mvalue.com), an Internet company that offers privacy, control and cash to Web surfers.

The 23-year-old runs an Internet company called Echelon Entertainment, which offers free games, fantasy sports and horoscopes on its site.

Patel heard about mValue.com during an interview he was doing in December about pay-to-surf companies in general. "The interviewer asked me what I thought of mValue," he said in an interview that appeared on the mValue Web site.

The Texan plans to invest the $ 1 million back into Echelon since he believes its users are the ones who really won it. "The rest will be invested for the future."

Patel was not the only winner in the contest, which also earned 10 mValue members a cash prize of $ 10,000 each; 100 members got $ 1,000 each and 1,000 members received $ 100 each.

For the contest, Patel earned most points for running the mValue.com Panel while surfing the Web and helping to build the mValue community by signing up friends, family and co-workers.

A graduate from the University of Texas, Patel said the privacy setting offered by mValue was appreciative. "It let me see who is tracking me on the Web and block them from doing so."

The mValue Panel identifies and selectively blocks companies that monitor consumer's surfing habits. The firm also offers an mExchange technology that allows consumers to sell their valuable personal data to Web retailers for cash or discounts in a highly secure and private environment.

Jay Haynes founded mValue.com in 1999 in Los Angeles. "mValue is creating a consumer-controlled market for online profiles where advertisers can buy online profiles directly from consumers," said Haynes in an interview. "This enables advertisers to get the best possible data from consumers without compromising consumer privacy and without fear of consumer backlash or government investigation."

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