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 Former
Federal Trade Commissioner Christine Varney was
elected chairperson of TRUSTe’s board of
directors in February 2003. Varney recently answered
a few questions about her perspective on TRUSTe
and privacy in general.
Q:
You’re rejoining TRUSTe’s board of directors
after a hiatus. What major changes have you noticed
in TRUSTe’s program and its impact on the
privacy landscape?
Varney:
The fact that TRUSTe has thrived during the current
economic difficulties speaks to the continued
importance of privacy to the enterprise and the
consumer. TRUSTe is in the unique position of
serving both businesses with services to improve
their privacy practices and consumers with a seal
that signifies compliance with ever-higher standards.
Over
the last couple of years, TRUSTe has increasingly
become a full service privacy provider especially
to larger organizations. The early days of TRUSTe
were understandably dominated by new online enterprises.
We now see more of the certification applications
coming from Fortune 500 companies than ever before.
TRUSTe
continues to increase its privacy standard requirements
and improve enforcement. This is critical to maintain
credibility with regulators and consumers. It’s
because of the trust in the TRUSTe brand that
the organization continues to grow.
Q:
What do you see as the big privacy issues facing
enterprises and consumers in 2003?
Varney:
For enterprises, they are facing an uncertain
regulatory environment, increased investments
and attention to security, and the difficulties
in getting their message across in email. Let’s
take them one at a time:
Legislation
is emerging at the state and sometimes on the
local level. For large national and multinational
organizations operating on the Internet, this
is causing concern. How do you draw the lines?
Several proposals are gaining ground at the federal
level and with the review of the Fair Credit Reporting
Act we are sure to see some changes. At TRUSTe,
we are advocating for the creation of a Safe Harbor
framework, whereby TRUSTe and other like organizations,
can work with companies to bring them into compliance
with legislation but with greater flexibility
and the ability to evolve as technology and policy
evolves.
Security.
Almost all organizations are increasingly aware
of their security issues. They are addressing
not only physical security, but also the security
of data - who has it, who can use it, who can
change it, and all the rules governing authorization
and use. This is good news for consumers. Security
is necessary to deliver true privacy protection.
At TRUSTe we expect to focus more on the security
of personal identity information, especially as
it moves from legacy systems to the Internet.
In addition, many licensees have shown concern
for the information that is passed on to their
agents’ vendors and third-party partners,
privacy issues that TRUSTe is interested in addressing
more directly.
Email
and SPAM. Many enterprises are convinced of the
power of email, but with the increasing amounts
of email consumers are getting, much of it unsolicited
and unwanted, companies are having a difficult
time getting their email delivered and read. TRUSTe
is working with the ISPs, regulators, and industry
groups to help identify and deliver mail from
Trusted Senders and to reduce SPAM.
For
consumers, privacy encompasses everything from
SPAM to credit card security to identity theft.
Despite increasing vigilance from law enforcement
and others, consumers remain rightfully concerned
over the use of their information because they
fear ever-increasing SPAM and the potential for
identity theft. And for consumers, over the last
year, unsolicited email is becoming increasingly
annoying and bothersome.
View
the 2002
Year In Review.
(PDF,
Requires Acrobat
Reader)
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Dear
Friends,
