[LINK] Report rings alarm bells about privacy on the internet

[Tony Barry]

Source: Edupage, 7 February 2000

REPORT RINGS ALARM BELLS ABOUT PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET
Government officials and privacy groups were surprised by last
week's report from the California HealthCare Foundation that
showed that health sites on the Web are not adequately protecting
consumer privacy.  The FTC has been monitoring e-commerce for the
past half-decade without substantial incident, but privacy groups
are touting the report's findings as proof that industry self-
regulation of the Internet is not working.  Seven of the sites
criticized in the report are members of TRUSTe, one of the
foremost privacy certification programs available.  TRUSTe is
concerned enough with the report's findings that it has decided
to investigate the member sites and conduct a random privacy
investigation of some of its other 1,300 member sites.  TRUSTe
plans to remind its members that any contracts with third parties
that allow those parties to track consumer data must be
specifically identified in their privacy policies.
(New York Times, 7 Feb 2000)

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