Following on from our story last week about the plans for Truste to set itself up in Europe, a member of the task force coordinating the effort got back to us to fill in a few of the details (11/02/98). Truste is the non-profit organization that provides seals of approval to web sites that maintain adequate levels of privacy for visitors to those sites. It has gained prominence recently because the European data protection directive came into force last month. It requires all companies in Europe to prevent the transfer of personal data to any country that does not provide an adequate level of protection for that data, and that includes the US (10/26/98). As part of the industry’s effort to self-regulate in the light of the directive, Truste and others have offered seals of approval for web sites that maintain adequate levels of data protection. Truste has established a task force to establish itself in Europe and is in the process of forming a non-profit foundation in Amsterdam. Task force member Michel Meyer tells us that over the next 45 days the group will aim to establish a European site license program and contract for web site owners; set up a European monitoring procedure and team and establish a local sponsorship program to pay for the whole thing. Truste relies on donations from sponsors and revenues from license fees to display its seal.
