TDP Case Study:WhenU – A Trusted Download Primary Notice

February 15th, 2007

No company has been certified so far in the Trusted Download Program without making changes to their software, particularly in the areas of notice and control.

WhenU Case Study on Primary Notice

WhenU’s primary notice prior to certification was already above the then industry standards, especially in how it described key software functionality, and provided prominent notice of the types of advertising that would be displayed. WhenU used direct and clear terminology, such as: “ads slide or pop up in front or behind the browser…”

Affirmative Consent

The Trusted Download Program does not allow pre-selected option consent for advertising or tracking software. The intent is to ensure that users do not end up with advertising or tracking software on their computer as a result of moving through consent screens by hitting enter repeatedly, without taking the affirmative action of selecting a button to download when presented with material information.

WhenU Primary Notice Before

TRUSTe reviewed all instances of WhenU Primary Notices. A number of associated Primary Notices were either opt-out or the consent option (“Next” or “I Accept”) was highlighted by default.

TRUSTe guidance during the certification process required WhenU to provide an affirmative consent for Save/SaveNow, and for the acceptance and decline options to be featured with equal promininence universally throughout the WhenU distribution network. WhenU understood and agreed with our requirements, and acted quickly to make the required changes.

TRUSTe’s subsequent review of Save/SaveNow Primary Consent screens were verified to offer the required consent mechanism.

Timing of Ads

TRUSTe Guidance during the certification process also advised that advertising software is required to give a level of specificity on when the advertising will be displayed. For example, will ads appear when the user is browsing the internet or at any time? In this case WhenU added the disclosure that advertising would be served “While you are browsing online, our software will show you pop-up advertisements…related to Web-browsing activity.” This provides sufficient specificity to set user expectations and equips the user to make an informed decision about the value exchange they are agreeing to.

WhenU Primary Notice After

Posted by: Colin O’Malley, Director of Product Development

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