Privacy Protection Pays
Two recently launched ventures underscores the growing commercial interest in protecting privacy. Privacy seal group TRUSTe will announce the launch of a new service to help police unsolicited commercial e-mail, or spam. Under Truste's new program, participants can obtain an e-mail seal if they comply with four criteria. The sender must adhere to Truste's fair information practice principles and e-mail best practices, which include giving consumers notice and choice about receiving e-mail solicitations. The subject line of the e-mail must be accurate and the message text must always allow consumers to opt out of further communications. And if any of these criteria are overlooked, the sender is accountable to Truste's dispute resolution program, in which consumers can complain about a company's e-mail practices. In the other venture Hewlett-Packard Co. will preinstall privacy-protection software from Zero-Knowledge Systems in its Pavilion personal computers sold in North America. Spurred by growing concerns about online privacy and security, the software will allow users control and block cookies used by Web sites to track surfing habits. They will also be able to activate a feature that scans outgoing Internet traffic for credit card numbers and other private information that might be sent unknowingly. Other features include an ad blocker, a personal firewall to guard against hacking and anti-virus protection.Privacy seal to help identify spam CNET News, January 31, 2002
Canning the spam Financial Times, Feb. 6, 2002
Why a Trusted Sender Program benefits all E-Mail Constituencies Ted Gavin
Hewlett-Packard to include privacy software on new Pavilion PCs Nando Times, January 31, 2002
