Internet Privacy Initiative Gains Backing

A group of computer makers, software developers, telecommunications companies, retailers and publishers is backing an initiative to preserve consumer privacy and avoid government regulation of the Internet. The initiative, to be announced today, will be called TRUSTe (formerly known as eTRUST). The nonprofit industry-backed organization, based in Palo Alto, is working to promote electronic commerce by protecting consumer privacy and staving off regulation. TRUSTe hopes to assure consumer privacy on the Internet by alerting consumers to the uses of their personal information through the use of “trustmarks,” or logos posted on Web sites that tell them how the information will or will not be used.