Posts filed under 'Bravo'
You may have seen the TRUSTe Privacy Seal on many of your favorite Web sites such as Apple, eBay, Facebook, Monster.com and The New York Times. This ubiquitous seal marks 2,400+ Web sites that are dedicated to protecting your privacy. On June 11, TRUSTe will commemorate its 10th anniversary by introducing a modernized version of its former logo, retaining the TRUSTe name and its familiar green and black colors.
TRUSTe’s Web Privacy Seal means that a Web site keeps its promises to protect your privacy, and allows you to have a choice about the use and sharing of your personal information.
Subjecting Web sites to tough standards and rigorous testing since 1997, TRUSTe has been:
1) Making sure that Web sites treat your identity and email address with respect and transparency. Any Web site with the TRUSTe seal will give you the right to access your information, delete your information, and give you a choice to keep it private. Not every Web site can meet TRUSTe’s tough standards. The privacy statement and TRUSTe approval can be validated by clicking on the seal or visiting the TRUSTe Web site.
2) Monitoring any changes to a sealholder’s Web site or promises. The TRUSTe seal on a Web site means that the site can be trusted to keep the promises it makes in its privacy statement. TRUSTe regularly monitors Web sites’ adherence to their privacy statements and has the power to enforce compliance with its program. In 2006, TRUSTe conducted 24 investigations of sealholders and revoked the seal in a number of those cases.
3) Resolving your individual privacy-related complaints. If you believe your privacy has been violated on a Web site displaying the TRUSTe seal, contact TRUSTe directly by registering a complaint on TRUSTe’s Watchdog complaint form at http://www.truste.org/watchdog. This is a unique service to help you guard and protect your individual personal information.
Look for the TRUSTe seal and ask your favorite Web sites to make sure they are protecting your privacy by joining TRUSTe.
For more information on TRUSTe and its new look, visit www.truste.org.
June 11th, 2007
No company has been certified so far in the Trusted Download Program without making changes to their software, particularly in the areas of notice and control.
WhenU Case Study on Primary Notice
WhenU’s primary notice prior to certification was already above the then industry standards, especially in how it described key software functionality, and provided prominent notice of the types of advertising that would be displayed. WhenU used direct and clear terminology, such as: “ads slide or pop up in front or behind the browser…”
Affirmative Consent
The Trusted Download Program does not allow pre-selected option consent for advertising or tracking software. The intent is to ensure that users do not end up with advertising or tracking software on their computer as a result of moving through consent screens by hitting enter repeatedly, without taking the affirmative action of selecting a button to download when presented with material information.
WhenU Primary Notice Before 
TRUSTe reviewed all instances of WhenU Primary Notices. A number of associated Primary Notices were either opt-out or the consent option (“Next” or “I Accept”) was highlighted by default.
TRUSTe guidance during the certification process required WhenU to provide an affirmative consent for Save/SaveNow, and for the acceptance and decline options to be featured with equal promininence universally throughout the WhenU distribution network. WhenU understood and agreed with our requirements, and acted quickly to make the required changes.
TRUSTe’s subsequent review of Save/SaveNow Primary Consent screens were verified to offer the required consent mechanism.
Timing of Ads
TRUSTe Guidance during the certification process also advised that advertising software is required to give a level of specificity on when the advertising will be displayed. For example, will ads appear when the user is browsing the internet or at any time? In this case WhenU added the disclosure that advertising would be served “While you are browsing online, our software will show you pop-up advertisements…related to Web-browsing activity.” This provides sufficient specificity to set user expectations and equips the user to make an informed decision about the value exchange they are agreeing to.
WhenU Primary Notice After
Posted by: Colin O’Malley, Director of Product Development
February 15th, 2007
Today’s AP story, Privacy Options limited for Net services, highlights TRUSTe as an advocate for consumer choice, and mentions one exemplary sealholder, E-LOAN as offering exceptional choice when it comes to personal privacy. TRUSTe has reviewed tens of thousands of privacy policies, and E-LOAN’s is simply one of the best. One reason why they won our award for being a Most Trusted Company for Privacy this year.
Transparency, ensures that consumers are informed of the bargain. Accurate disclosure of practices also empowers consumers to encourage service providers to change thier practices. Facebook, another TRUSTe sealholder, is an excellent example of the importance of good disclosure and responsiveness to privacy issues. They handled customer concerns quickly and responsively - that’s also building trust.
- Posted by Carolyn Hodge
October 13th, 2006
As a result of investigating the HP Board pretexting scandal, CNET reporter/blogger David Berlind suggests to powers that be, that CNET/ZDNet should disclose outbound clear .gif tracking in thier email newsletters. And guess what, they agreed!
“So, sometime this week, once we’ve had a chance to adjust our newsletter templates, you will begin to see a text disclosure (probably at the bottom) that mentions the usage of trackable elements in the HTML versions of the daily and weekly editions of Tech Update.”
Bravo! We’ll be interested to see if subscribers, notice or comment on the disclosure.
October 2nd, 2006
