|
E-Trust looks to build Internet confidence
November 13, 1996
Web posted at: 4:10 p.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Greg Lefevre
SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- Surf the Internet, and some sites you visit may automatically pick up a lot of information about your computer and about you. Called cookies, these nuggets of information include the make and model of your computer and the software you use.
Lori Fena, executive director of Electronic Frontier Foundation, says there is software that can pick out some very specific aspects of your computer and its settings. For some 'Net users, that's a little frightening.
And if Web sites nabbing personal information isn't enough, consumers are also fear giving out credit card information over the Net, which impacts many Net-bound businesses.
That combination adds up to an Internet privacy problem.
A pair of technology associations has teamed up to do something about it. They've invented E-Trust, a seal of approval for privacy protection on the Web. When it's ready, Internet companies will subscribe to the E-Trust program, follow its rules, pay a fee, disclose to customers up front what they do with information from them, and agree to be audited about how they handle private information.
"It really is about getting consumers to feel confident, to trust doing business online," says CommerceNet's co-founder Marty Tenenbaum.
In turn, Internet customers -- in theory -- will feel better about doing business on the Web.
"They get assurance when they go on one that they are going to be told ahead of time what kind of privacy they can expect," says Electronic Frontier Foundation's Fena.
The two groups are testing E-Trust this fall and may have it ready early next year.
Following this year's release of personal information by the Lexis-Nexis Company, some in Congress wanted to step in and create Internet privacy laws. The E-Trust partnership hopes to head that off and demonstrate that self-regulation works.
Related stories:
- Guarding privacy tougher as Internet expands - September 19, 1996
- Debate rages over electronic access to public records - August 17, 1996
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- CommerceNet
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- E Trust
- CommerceNet and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Partner to Implement ETRUST
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
Watch these shows on CNN for more sci-tech stories:
CNN Computer Connection | Future Watch | Science & Technology Week
Tell us what you think!
You said it...
© 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.