But a key part of it mission, the group says, is to create a legitimate, verifiable method of protecting people's online information. Consumers need to understand the benefits if personalization, while on the other hand, they need straight-forward, accurate information so that they can access the risks of giving personal information. The group plans to create a seal of approval. People don't understand what they are getting when the see a TrustE seal on a site. A seal of compliance is not an audit.
People can still fool auditors, of course, but normally only once.
Auditors have standards that they use to measure whether a firm is in complaince. So we will be making sure that our members have their privacy policies audited. While the Consortium is at least making the right noises about privacy, there were rough spots during the press conference that pointed to potential problems and future conflicts with privacy advocates. The Consortium conducted an e-mail survey of 4,500 Internet users, the results of which they shared at the news conference as evidence that the public clearly supports some level of personalization. For instance, those surveyed showed little hesitation in sharing information like their names, e-mail addresses, or hobbies and interests.