Comment Reliance on 3rd parties is not the solution (Score 1) 58
As far as I'm concerned, Truste has lost all credibility on this. They made no move to censure, publicly denounce or even chastise the Real for such a blatant abuse of privacy laws. The overall view seems clear: consumers cannot rely on a 3rd party watchdog to police the marketplace. The BBBOnline has tried to make inroads on the privacy issues, but as someone pointed out above, their agreements have no teeth.
Any site worth visiting posts their privacy policy. It's up to intelligent consumers/users to examine them and protest when there are holes and/or violations. The best response users can give is to refuse to use a product/website that will pass your data around without telling you or leaves open-ended loopholes in the privacy laws. It's also up to the 10% who know and care about these issues to continue to point out the flaws to the media and anyone who will listen.
I have been asked to examine Truste for my company and I have flat out refused to consider them for our privacy needs based on their refusal to deal with Real in a sensible manner. Sure the press release looks good on the wires, but if all they're going to do is cash our check, why bother?
As we get closer to medical records online we need to see stronger privacy policies, opt-out strategies and anonymous cookies available to the general public. I believe most companies WANT to protect their user's data, it's in their best interest for the life of their business. However, there are those few companies who decided that their marketing research or possible business deals with another vender take precedence and try something sneaky. These are the companies who need to be reprimanded and pushed out of the marketplace. Truste made it seem they were the ones who could do it, they've obviously failed.
Any site worth visiting posts their privacy policy. It's up to intelligent consumers/users to examine them and protest when there are holes and/or violations. The best response users can give is to refuse to use a product/website that will pass your data around without telling you or leaves open-ended loopholes in the privacy laws. It's also up to the 10% who know and care about these issues to continue to point out the flaws to the media and anyone who will listen.
I have been asked to examine Truste for my company and I have flat out refused to consider them for our privacy needs based on their refusal to deal with Real in a sensible manner. Sure the press release looks good on the wires, but if all they're going to do is cash our check, why bother?
As we get closer to medical records online we need to see stronger privacy policies, opt-out strategies and anonymous cookies available to the general public. I believe most companies WANT to protect their user's data, it's in their best interest for the life of their business. However, there are those few companies who decided that their marketing research or possible business deals with another vender take precedence and try something sneaky. These are the companies who need to be reprimanded and pushed out of the marketplace. Truste made it seem they were the ones who could do it, they've obviously failed.
