Full Details of Online Program Unveiled In Briefing With U.S. Government Officials More than 300 Companies Initiate Process of Applying For Privacy Seal

ARLINGTON, VA. March 17, 1999 - BBBOnLine, (a subsidiary of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), today announced its new online Privacy Seal Program is “open for business, and that it has begun processing applications from web sites seeking the trustmark.

The BBBOnLine Privacy Program, which will assure consumers how a web site handles personally identifiable information, was introduced during a briefing for Federal Trade Commission and other U.S. government officials. Officials were shown the distinctive BBBOnLine privacy emblem, a blue-black-and-white combination lock containing a stylized globe. They were briefed on BBBOnLine's comprehensive assessment process that assures a company is able to comply with its privacy notice, as well as the program's sophisticated dispute resolution mechanism.

More than 300 companies already have initiated the application process to become members of the program that will provide consumers with an easy-to-recognize seal from an organization they know and trust.

“We are now open for business and are gratified that businesses of all sizes and from all sectors have expressed an interest in our program, said Russell Bodoff, senior vice president and COO of BBBOnLine. “We expect our program to grow quickly.

The new program is rooted in the Better Business Bureau system's 86 years of experience in voluntary business self-regulation and dispute resolution. Businesses qualifying for the seal must agree to participate in a dispute resolution system that sets the standard for resolving consumer concerns over privacy.

Specifically, the program:

• Awards an easily recognizable and affordable “seal to businesses that post online privacy policies meeting rigorous principles, including notice, disclosure, choice and consent, access, and security;
• Offers a separate and distinct seal for sites with advertising directed at children;
• Provides a thorough, but consumer-friendly dispute resolution system;
• Monitors compliance through requirements that participating companies undertake annual assessments of their online privacy practices; and,
• Takes specific actions for non-compliance, such as seal withdrawal, publicity and referral to government enforcement agencies.

Consumers will come to trust sites that carry the new seal just as they have welcomed and used our current Reliability Seal, the largest seal program on the Net, Bodoff said.

In conjunction with the launch of the program, BBBOnLine is coordinating with local Better Business Bureaus (BBBs) to provide Internet privacy information and model privacy policies to businesses nationwide. BBBOnLine will continue to partner with the extensive BBB system to keep businesses up-to-date on privacy developments on the Internet.

“We are confident that businesses will come to view the BBBOnLine Privacy Program as the gold standard of privacy trustmarks on the web because they believe in our privacy philosophy: ‘Say What You Do, Do What You Say and Have It Verified,' said Bojana Fazarinc, Global Marketing Services and Communications Director with Hewlett-Packard and chair of the BBBOnLine Board of Directors.

About two dozen global companies, pioneers and leaders in e-commerce, have sponsored creation of the new BBBOnLine Privacy Program: America Online, AMR Corporation (American Airlines and Travelocity), AT&T, Bank of America, Dell, Dun & Bradstreet, Eastman Kodak, Equifax, Experian, Ford, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, J.C. Penney, MCI WorldCom, Microsoft, New York Times Electronic Media, Procter & Gamble, Reed Elsevier (LEXIS-NEXIS), Sony Electronics, US WEST, Viacom and Xerox.