By John McNamara

Innocent consumers are mislead everyday by Web sites using spoofed logos and seals. Many of these spoofed emails now contain copies of the TRUSTe seal. To help thwart criminals from using our seals illegally, the TRUSTe Compliance Team recently introduced the Privacy Alert blacklist.

Privacy Alert is a real-time, Web-based list of Web sites using the TRUSTe seal illegally. The TRUSTe Compliance Team scans thousands and thousands of Web pages every month looking for “bad guys” to build the black list. As the list grows, it will be shared with service providers and other organizations who use blacklists and whitelists to improve the deliverability of email.

Consumers can help the TRUSTe Compliance Team by using the new Privacy Alert feature on the TRUSTe Web site. The “Privacy Alert” button, located on our home page allows consumers to report Web sites that they believe are using TRUSTe seals illegally. The Privacy Alert feature also displays the blacklists compiled by TRUSTe, so consumers can check to see if a Web site they are visiting is legitimate.

All Web sites that consumers submit to the TRUSTe Compliance Team will be investigated and the bad guys tracked down. Privacy Alert is one more way that TRUSTe is working with sealholders and consumers to strengthen and protect the TRUSTe brand.

John McNamara is director of client operations & compliance at TRUSTe.

 

Wiley Rein LLP