TRUSTe

True Ultimate Standards Everywhere, Inc d/b/a TRUSTe, Inc. is a trust mark sales company based in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in London, United Kingdom and Cebu City, Philippines. Best known for its online privacy seals, TRUSTe assesses, monitors, and certifies websites, mobile apps, cloud, and advertising channels to allow companies "to safely collect and use customer data to power their business". The company incorporates regulatory requirements and industry best practices from the United States and North America, European Union, and Asia Pacific regions into its review of digital properties. As of 2012, TRUSTe has provided data privacy management services and certifications for more than 5,000 businesses.

History

TRUSTe (originally named eTRUST until a copyright conflict was found) was founded as a non-profit industry association in 1997 by Lori Fena, then executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and Charles Jennings, a software entrepreneur, with the mission of fostering online commerce by helping businesses and other online organizations self-regulate privacy concerns. Toward this end TRUSTe launched its flagship Privacy Seal Program, providing privacy seals to websites who abide by a set of fair information privacy practices and agreed to participate in the company's consumer privacy dispute resolution service.