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Beware! "Trusted" sites often host spyware and scams
6 comments- IT TOPICS:Government & Regulation, Networking, Security, Software
TRUSTe, which promises to help consumers by certifying only "trustworthy" Web sites as being safe, in fact certifies many sites that "that seek to scam users -- whether through spyware infections, spam, or other unsavory practices," according to well-known spyware researcher Ben Edelman.
More frightening still, TRUSTe-certified sites are twice as likely as non-TRUSTe-certified sites to host spyware or scams, Edelman found. Edelman examined more than 500,000 Web sites, and checked their safety using SiteAdvisor, whose robots check Web sites for spyware, and which uses other methods and test to check sites for spamming and other scams.
The results were startling: "Of the sites certified by TRUSTe, 5.4% are untrustworthy according to SiteAdvisor's data, compared with just 2.5% untrustworthy sites in the rest of the ISP's list. So TRUSTe-certified sites are more than twice as likely to be untrustworthy."
He cites several egregious examples, including Direct-revenue.com, which has been certified by TRUSTe even though it hosts spyware, and faces ligitation by the New York Attorney General and consumer class action suits, he says. Other TRUSTe-certified sites that host spyware, or engage in spam or scam are Funwebproduct.som, Maxmoohlah.com, and Webhancer.com, he claims.
The upshot? In essence, TRUSTe can't be trusted. If you see its seal on a site, consider staying away. Edelman recommends that TRUSTe establish solid rules against spyware and scams and then enforce them --- something he says that TRUSTe has yet to do.
Edelman, by the way is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Economics at Harvard University, a graduate of Harvard Law School, and has testified before Congress and elsewhere about spyware. He's probably the most authoritative expert on the planet about spyware. So you can trust him, even if TRUSTe isn't so trusty.
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