FC: Is TRUSTe trustworthy?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,32329,00.html

                     Is Truste Trustworthy? 
                     by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)

                     3:00 a.m. 5.Nov.1999 PST 
                     CUPERTINO, California -- Web watchdog
                     group Truste plans to release the results
                     of its investigation into RealNetworks'
                     controversial data collection practices by
                     Monday, a company source said. 

                     Truste this week began to investigate
                     RealNetwork's practice of surreptitiously
                     gathering data about the music listening
                     habits of its users and recording that
                     information. 

                     The inquiry comes as privacy activists
                     have become increasingly shrill in their
                     complaints about Cupertino-based Truste,
                     which is an industry self-regulatory effort
                     originally started by the Electronic
                     Frontier Foundation and CommerceNET.
                     Some advocacy groups, such as
                     Junkbusters and the Electronic Privacy
                     Information Center, hope that the US
                     federal government will regulate Internet
                     businesses instead. 

                     Since its inception in 1996, Truste has
                     investigated hundreds of privacy
                     violations -- some minor, some egregious
                     -- by some of the largest online
                     companies, including Microsoft and
                     Deja.com, that have signed a contract to
                     abide by certain data-collection
                     standards. In return, companies may post
                     a bright green "Truste" logo on their Web
                     site. 

                     But so far, Truste investigators have
                     never revoked a company's ability to
                     display that logo, which is designed to tell
                     consumers that they can trust that firm. 

                     [...]


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