TRUSTe Offers Privacy Statement Generator With MSN LinkExchange

Palo Alto, CA-based TRUSTe, an Internet privacy seal program, said it has developed a new Privacy Statement Wizard tool in collaboration with MSN LinkExchange.

The Wizard is part of TRUSTe’s and MSN LinkExchange’s ongoing effort to make privacy seal programs more accessible to small Web site owners, the organizations said. The Wizard will be hosted on the MSN LinkExchange site and will be available to all LinkExchange customers.

“Working with MSN LinkExchange is critical to our objective of reaching and serving small businesses,” said Susan Scott, TRUSTe’s executive director. “By incorporating this Wizard technology into the Web site design process, MSN LinkExchange is making it easy for Web site owners to adopt responsible data practices early in their business cycle.”

MSN LinkExchange services include tools such as affiliate marketing, targeted banner advertising, customer-appropriate contact lists, and search engine placement. Adding the Privacy Statement Wizard, which will begin beta testing on the LinkExchange site next week, will allow Web site owners to generate a privacy statement in 15 minutes or less. Sites are then encouraged to apply for TRUSTe’s privacy seal program, which provides ongoing monitoring, oversight and consumer complaint resolution.

“Small business owners are just as concerned about their customers’ privacy as large businesses on the Web,” said Deborah Whitman, vice president of marketing for MSN LinkExchange at Microsoft. “By teaming with TRUSTe, we can help these Web site owners by providing an easy way to establish privacy policies for their online businesses.”

For non-LinkExchange customers, TRUSTe continues to offer its free Privacy Statement Wizard at www.truste.org/wizard.