Web Sites With Truste Seal Of Approval Get Second Look

More than 100 Web sites that carry a Truste privacy seal could come in for additional scrutiny as a result of a new report by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, says Truste President Fran Meier.

The report, released late last week, indicates that many Web sites are circumventing users' browser-based privacy settings by sending erroneous information to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. That browser, like others, allows users to automatically reject certain cookies, including tracking cookies. To accomplish this, Explorer reads "compact policies" -- code that summarize the site's privacy policies -- created by Web site operators.

Researchers examined the compact policies of more than 33,000 sites and found errors in around one in three -- including 134 that are certified by Truste, an organization that awards privacy seals to more than 3,000 Web sites. Some of the errors appeared to have been the result of typos, but thousands of sites were using identical compact policies that were promoted as workarounds to prevent Explorer from blocking cookies, the researchers said.

Meier says that Truste intends to contact the companies named in the report and question them about the findings. "We're taking this very seriously," she says. "If we find that somebody is purposely being inconsistent, or is not willing to make changes, then we'll deal with it."

Meier adds that Truste, which certifies more than 3,000 sites, does not independently confirm sites' compact policies. Instead, she says, Truste examines sites' privacy policies and whether sites allow consumers to opt out of third-party tracking -- which is a Truste requirement. Truste also scans sites for tracking technologies including HTTP cookies, Flash cookies and Web beacons.

"We think the most important thing is the privacy policy," Meier says, adding that the compact policies aren't "consumer-facing."

Even if a site has a defective compact policy, the site can still allow consumers to opt out through a link. Those links are cookie-based and shouldn't be affected by the compact policies sent by site operators to Explorer.

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