In late May, TRUSTe and Goodmail Systems, creators of the CertifiedEmail system, announced a partnership that will help high-volume email senders establish their bona fides as legitimate, trusted senders. Prospective users of CertifiedEmail who first earn TRUSTe’s Email Privacy Seal (EPS) certification will enjoy a reduced Goodmail application fee.

“Goodmail Systems’ CertifiedEmail service will help consumer confidence by creating a safe class of email from legitimate companies that consumers are doing business with,” said Fran Maier, president and executive director of TRUSTe. “By encouraging participating companies to become TRUSTe Email Privacy Sealholders, Goodmail ensures that they are held to the highest email privacy standards and practices.”

CertifiedEmail is already supported by leading mailbox providers AOL and Yahoo! Email messages from participating companies are sent with a unique cryptographically secure token that authenticates the message, which is then presented in the email interface with a special trust icon. Senders who subscribe to the CertifiedEmail service obtain assured delivery to the server-level inbox, with all links and images in the message presented intact. Many ISPs routinely disable links and images as a protection again email-based fraud.

TRUSTe’s Email Privacy Seal, which states definitively, “We don’t spam,” is displayed on Web forms anywhere email addresses are collected. Companies that want to join the program are required to provide consumer safeguards at every step of the email process:

• Required consumer consent to send commercial or promotional email
• Required disclosure at the point of collection of email addresses as to the nature of email messages to be sent, the sharing of collected emails with third parties other than the service provider, and the receiving of commercial or promotional email as a condition of receiving a service
• An easy-to-use unsubscribe option included in all commercial or promotional email messages
• The institution of a complaint resolution process providing comprehensive contact information and a link to the TRUSTe Watchdog site for third-party dispute resolution

For more information on TRUSTe’s Email Privacy Seal, visit the TRUSTe website or call (415) 520-3415.

 

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