| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet Privacy |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | 55 2nd Street, San Francisco, California, USA |
| Key people |
CEO: Chris Babel, President: Fran Maier |
TRUSTe is a company[1] based in San Francisco, California, best known for its online privacy seals. TRUSTe operates the world’s largest privacy seal program, certifying more than 3,500 websites,[2] including leading online portals and brands like Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple Inc., IBM, Oracle Corporation, Intuit and eBay. In addition to its range of privacy seals TRUSTe's professional services include site reputation management, trust seals, privacy policy generation, vendor evaluation and consumer privacy dispute resolution.
Contents |
TRUSTe was founded as a non-profit industry association in 1997 by Lori Fena, then executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and Charles Jennings, a software entrepreneur, with the mission of fostering online commerce by helping businesses and other online organizations self-regulate privacy concerns.[3] Toward this end TRUSTe launched its flagship Privacy Seal Program, providing privacy seals to websites who abide by a set of fair information privacy practices and agreed to participate in the company's consumer privacy dispute resolution service.[4]
In 2000, TRUSTe became the first organization to join the U.S. Department of Commerce's European Union (EU) safe harbor framework and subsequently launched its EU Safe Harbor Seal Program.[4] The US-EU Safe Harbor was agreed upon by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Union to provide a framework for American companies to comply with European data and privacy standards.
In 2001, TRUSTe became a Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Safe Harbor organization for the Federal Trade Commission[5] and thereafter launched its Children's Privacy Seal Program.
Fran Maier, co-founder of Match.com,[6] joined TRUSTe as Executive Director in 2001.[7] One of the first efforts was to address consumer issues with spam or unwanted email.[8]
In 2006, TRUSTe launched its Trusted Download Program, designed to separate “good” downloadable software from adware and spyware.[9]
In 2008, TRUSTe changed its structure from a non-profit industry association to a venture-backed for-profit, raising its first round of capital from Accel Ventures.[10]
Chris Babel, former Senior Vice President of VeriSign’s worldwide Authentication Services, joined TRUSTe as chief executive officer in November 2009.[11]
The TRUSTe seal does not indicate that a web site complies with any specific set of privacy rules, such as the European Union's Data Protection Directive. It indicates only that the site has self-certified as complying with the site's own privacy statement.[12]
TRUSTe claims to enforce its privacy rules, and operates a "Watchdog" operation which accepts consumer complaints. TRUSTe described its enforcement process in a filing with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2000.[13] From 2000 to June 2004, TRUSTe published "Watchdog Reports" reporting their enforcement actions.[14] The final report, for June 2004, shows 256 reports received and 130 reports closed. All 130 reports were resolved with "Issue Handles with no changes necessary to the Privacy Statement nor the Site". In no case was an enforcement action taken. In 2004, no enforcement actions were taken. In 2003, one enforcement action was taken, out of over a thousand complaints.[14] After June 2004, TrustE ceased reporting on enforcement actions, despite the statement in its FTC filing that it would publish such reports at least twice a year.
Dr. Benjamin Edelman of the Harvard Business School found in January 2006 that sites with TRUSTe certification were 50% more likely to violate privacy policies than uncertified sites.[15]
Dr. Edelman has also reported 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.[16]