TRUSTe Unveils New EU Privacy Solution

US consumer privacy organization TRUSTe has unveiled a solution to help businesses prepare for compliance with the 'EU Cookie Directive', which requires web publishers to obtain prior consent before they store or access consumer information via cookies and similar technologies.

At the end of January, the European Commission published a proposal for amending the existing 20-year old EU regulations on data protection. This included a requirement for organisations to gain 'explicit consent' for data collection and processing, while enabling consumers to have their data deleted on request.

TRUSTe previously developed the Behavioral Advertising Notice and Choice Program, to help web site publishers provide consumers with a 'clear understanding' of web site policies and advertising practice, while allowing them to opt out of targeted ad campaigns. The firm claims its new 'EU Cookie Audit' service provides companies with the information they need to address the proposed privacy law. This service includes an analysis of all first and third-party tracking technologies being used on an organisation's web site, supported by a privacy strategy assessment from TRUSTe's policy team.

Powered by the company's web site assessment technology, the audit service can index all trackers and provide ongoing intelligence about their activity, origin and risk level. This includes determining the location of the tracker on the web site, the organisation generating the tracking, a history of the tracking, and the intrusiveness of the tracking activities.

TRUSTe CEO Chris Babel says his firm's new service is required because many web publishers are unaware of the activities taking place on their sites: 'Our new solution gives companies a 360 degree view of the tracking technologies present on their web sites. With the growing prevalence of unauthorised tracking activities finding their way onto sites, the ability to fully understand what trackers are on your site at all times is an absolute necessity to protecting customer information.'

A month ago, UK-based online privacy and compliance specialist Evidon launched a similar tool to help publishers keep tabs on the cookies and tracking tools used on their web sites, for compliance purposes.

TRUSTe is online at www.truste.com .