Can You Trust TRUSTe?
The Wired Blog reported today that sites that are certified through TRUSTe are twice as likely as similar, uncertified sites to deliver spyware, adware and spam.
The research was done by Ben Edelman, a researcher of economics at Harvard.
Sites that receive the Better Business Bureau Online Privacy Seal, on the other hand, have substantially higher trustworthiness than the comparison sites. You can read the whole report here as a pdf.
This isn't the first time TRUSTe has been taken to task about putting profits ahead of accountability.
If you already have invested in TRUSTe's stamp of approval I wouldn't remove it, but if you haven't you may want to hold off. If TRUSTe's reputation continues to get tarnished you may find yourself with an albatross around your Web site.
Personally, I've never made a buying decision based on the "stickers" a Web site has on their site. Like nameless testimonials, they carry little weight and are easy to manufacture.
Comments
Rich, Ben Edelman and Site Advisor, the underlying data set for his study, have different but complementary methods and standards. Both have strengths and weaknesses. And despite's Ben's protestations to the contrary, he is fully aware that TRUSTe has been decertifying adware and trackware from our program for some time, and also soon launching a new program to apply specific standards to downloadable software. Unlike Ben though, I won't presume to know his motivations for taking an approach to our differences that doesn't really benefit consumers or online businesses in the end. Our sealholders, who work very hard to meet our standards and stay compliant would disagree vehemently with Ben's proposal that we are rubber stamping websites, and it certainly does a huge disservice to those trying to be better at protecting consumer privacy. That being said, no system is perfect, and TRUSTe has been working very hard to address many of the gaps in our program. We encourage feedback and TRUSTe can always do a better job.
By the way, TRUSTe has offered a different perspective on this paper on our blog at blog.truste.org
Posted by Carolyn HodgeSeptember 27, 2006 03:00 PM
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