This month, TRUSTe announced that it has chosen AppLabs Technologies to test the technical operation of applicants to TRUSTe’s new Trusted Download Program, slated to begin beta testing early this year.

“AppLabs’s achievements in engineer certification and its work history should send a clear message to the industry that we intend to strictly uphold the standards of our program,” said Fran Maier, president and executive director of TRUSTe. AppLabs has a long history of security services, ranging from desktop/endpoint security through every aspect of the network, and currently manages more than 20 certification programs involving such technologies as Cisco, Novell, Sun Microsystems, Hitachi Data Systems, Microsoft, and Linux.

The TRUSTe Trusted Download Program, whose creation was announced in November 2005, promotes ethical behavior among downloadable-software makers by publishing a “whitelist” of certified applications. Companies can use the whitelist to make business decisions about advertising, partnering, or distributing software products. The program thus provides market incentives to software providers to meet the program requirements and earn certification. Partners include some of the biggest names on the Internet: Yahoo, AOL, CA, CNET Networks, and Verizon.

AppLabs will be responsible for reviewing potential sealholders’ software -- and applications found through their affiliate programs -- for a wide range of behaviors, most notably the following:

• The absence of prohibited functionality
• No “time bomb” components that become active after installation
• A complete, working uninstall function

“This program can change the entire ecosystem of software on the Internet and create a healthier environment for honest software developers and users,” said Mike McCormick, assistant vice president of Strategic Alliances for AppLabs. “We look forward to beginning our work.”

TRUSTe will begin accepting applications from interested software producers during the beta testing period of the program, in the first quarter of 2006. For the most up-to-date information on the Trusted Download Program, visit the TRUSTe Web site at www.truste.org/trusteddownload.

 

Wiley Rein LLP