TechArchive

Original article date: April 2000

One major factor that keeps many people from shopping on the internet is trust. Despite the fact that it is usually the banks who lose in credit card fraud, rather than the buyer, there is still the worry that the goods won’t turn up, or that the company may pass on your details to other folk.

Often it is the issue of trust that keeps well known ‘pre-internet’ businesses in the running against new online suppliers that in theory could trounce them. But, wherever there is an obstacle to business, there will be someone working furiously to surmount it. And this is no exception.

In the US, there is an organisation called ‘TRUSTe’ (etrust.com) which, after several years of development by folk who felt trust was a big problem, has set up an authentication scheme for websites. TRUSTe believes that any visitors to a website should know who they are dealing with, what information will be collected and what will be done with it.

If your e-commerce site is deemed worthy – and if you pay TRUSTe its fee – then you get to display its seal of approval on your website. TRUSTe also mediates in any disputes that may arise between you and your customers.

It is by no means easy to secure that approval. The assessment process involves you meeting a lot of criteria, and being able to demonstrate continually that you still meet them. Questions you will need to answer include:

• What information to you collect explicitly or without the visitor knowing?
• Do you use cookies and if so what for?
• What other organisations are sharing the information you collect?
• Can visitors access, and correct, data relating to them?
• What will you do to protect against imposters viewing visitors’ data?
• What physical storage do you use for backup and, in the event of a server failure, how much data would you lose?
• Can you show that all members of your company who have access to the site’s database understand your privacy and security policy?

The probing goes on – there are screens and screens full of it. And as you read it, you might wonder if you’d dare to visit a non-approved site ever again.

TRUSTe approval is almost like the online version of what ISO9000 was supposed to be – not guaranteeing that the product was any good, necessarily, but showing that the company had a formal, organised approach, and a culture in which the concept of ‘quality’ was understood. TRUSTe approval shows that structures are in place and that the company understands and addresses the privacy and security concerns of visitors. And you can lose your TRUSTe mark at any time if you fail to live up your assessment, so it is maybe more meaningful than a six monthly inspection with a week’s warning.

Another way of showing your e-commerce site is safe to do business with is to have a formal assessment done by one of the big name management consultancies (which seem to have rapidly re-invented themselves as e-commerce experts). Their checks include system integrity and general security as well as assessing the general management control. Strangely, my source on the inside said ‘bespoke software’ was a no-no, so that rules out any really cutting edge innovation on a site.

Where TRUSTe has captured the imagination of the internet community, however, is that it clearly understands the net world and the concerns of all ‘netizens’. And it’s affordable. The fees start at $300 – how far would that go with a big name consultancy firm?

‘Online trust’ is becoming a big issue. If it delivers what it promises, it will make the net a better place for all of us, and will keep our private information safer.

April 2000