TRUSTe

Type	Private
Founded	1997
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, USA
Key people	Fran Maier, Chief Executive Officer and President
Industry	Internet Privacy
Website	www.truste.com

TRUSTe is an independent, privately held^[1] organization best known for its Web Privacy Seal. TRUSTe runs the world’s largest privacy seal program, with more than 2,000 Web sites certified,^[2] including the major internet portals and leading brands such as IBM, Oracle Corporation, Intuit and eBay. TRUSTe states its purpose is to establish trusting relationships between individuals and online organizations based on respect for personal identity and information in the evolving networked world. TRUSTe is headquartered in San Francisco with an office in Washington D.C.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 History 2 Controversies 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

TRUSTe was founded as a non-profit organization in 1997 by Lori Fena who was executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Charles Jennings, a software entrepreneur, to foster online commerce by helping businesses and other online organizations self-regulate privacy concerns.^[3]

Fran Maier, chief executive officer and president of TRUSTe, joined the organization in 2001.^[4] Maier is one of the co-founders of Match.com.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, TRUSTe launched its Trusted Download Program, designed to separate “good” downloadable software from adware and spyware.^[5]

[edit] Controversies

Some critics charge that TRUSTe does not go far enough to punish seal holders that break TRUSTe’s rules and that the organization is not quick enough in revoking the seal on companies that violate privacy standards.^[6]

A survey conducted by Benjamin Edelman in January 2006 found that sites with TRUSTe certification were 50% more likely to violate privacy policies than uncertified sites.^[7]

TRUSTe counters these charges with the argument that punishing “bad guys” and terminating rule breakers does not further TRUSTe’s mission of increasing trust between businesses and consumers. To accomplish that mission, TRUSTe works with companies to change business practices for the benefit of consumers.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• TRUSTe home page