TRUSTe, the non-profit organization that helps consumers and businesses identify trustworthy online organizations, today unveiled a whitelist of applications that have passed a certification process for the company's Trusted Download Program.

The applications chosen have been certified by TRUSTe to clearly communicate key functionalities, to obtain informed consumer consent prior to download, and provide an easy uninstall with clear instructions, among other requirements.

"The companies whose applications have passed the challenging certification process for the Trusted Download whitelist are all demonstrating a commitment to protecting consumer privacy," says Fran Maier, executive director and president of TRUSTe. "By completely informing users about the particulars of the downloads they offer up front, the participating companies are increasing transparency and giving control to users."

The first eight downloadable applications that have been certified for the Trusted Download whitelist are:

Certified Standard Software

• CamFrog Video Chat 3.81 from Camshare LLC
• Coupon Bar 5.0 from Coupons, Inc.
• Coupon Printer 3.3 from Coupons, Inc.
• Crawler Toolbar 4.5.0 from Crawler LLC
• Illumio 1.2.73 from Tacit Software, Inc.
• MostFun 1.0 from NeoEdge

Certified Advertising Software

• Save/SaveNow 4.0 from WhenU.com
• Vomba 1.2.0.0 from Vomba Network Inc.

Another dozen applications are currently in the certification queue.

"It's important that there's a third party objective voice in the industry to help advertisers distinguish between software that's thought of as adware and trackware and standard software like ours," Jeff Weitzman, president of Coupons, Inc. told iMedia. "We've been working with our customers for years, and they know and trust that we've always maintained the highest standards for consumer protection and privacy and it's important to them and to us to now have a third party standard and verification of that trust. We hope consumers will use the TRUSTe whitelist to help them better understand what to expect from the software they download."

The program sponsors, representing leading content and search providers, anti-spyware vendors and online advertisers, offer market incentives for downloadable software publishers to get certified. AOL, CA, CNET Networks, Microsoft, Verizon and Yahoo! will use the whitelist as a tool to help make business decisions related to advertising, partnering and distributing software products. By providing a whitelist of trusted applications, the program aims to provide attractive market incentives to software publishers to meet the requirements and earn certification.

"This is a huge win for the online advertising ecosystem," privacy expert Alan Chapell, who worked as a consultant for TRUSTe and helped put the program together, told us. "The desktop software business model has been much maligned over the years-- and with good reason. If TRUSTe can effectively and consistently police the companies on the Beta Whitelist, this program will provide a safe harbor for advertisers who've previously been reluctant to place ad dollars into desktop software."