WASHINGTON, D.C. April 21, 1999 - BBBOnLine, a subsidiary of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, today told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that its new Privacy Seal Program is off to a great start and when consumers see a BBBOnLine Privacy Seal, they can feel confident that their privacy is respected online by that web site.

"BBBOnLine's Privacy Program is free to consumers; it's convenient; and it offers consumers the help of trained professionals to bring about a speedy resolution to individual complaints about privacy," Russell Bodoff, senior vice president and chief operating officer of BBBOnLine told the panel, chaired by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT).

Bodoff said the BBBOnLine Privacy Seal Program has received more than 240 applications from companies involved in online commerce since launching on March 17 and fourteen seals have been approved. "The response to our new seal by the business community has been very impressive and more applications are coming in every day," he said. "We believe that voluntary self-regulation within the private sector can work."

Bodoff said the BBBOnLine seal is key to creating a credible system of self-regulation. Consumers need to feel that Web sites are handling personal information in an ethical manner and that sites violating consumer trust face serious consequences.

The BBBOnLine program requires that companies go through a comprehensive assessment of the processes that they have in place to assure that the company can abide by its privacy policies. BBBOnLine will also conduct random verifications of a company's practices to further build consumer confidence that the organization is adhering to its privacy practices. Non-compliance may trigger a full on-site audit.

"Decisions made during the program's dispute resolution process will be published so that the public will be able to monitor how complaints about privacy violations are resolved," Bodoff said. "We'll also keep statistics to help us identify patterns of improper information practices and non-compliance."

Bodoff said that BBBOnLine would take prompt action if companies break their promises and abuse consumer trust. Non-complying companies will be turned over to the appropriate regulatory agency, such as the Federal Trade Commission, which has statutory authority to bring legal action against a company.

The new program is rooted in the Better Business Bureau system's 86 years of experience in voluntary business self-regulation and dispute resolution.

Specifically, the BBBOnLine Privacy program:

• awards an easily recognizable and affordable "seal" to businesses that post and adhere to 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.

BBBOnLine is coordinating with local Better Business Bureaus (BBBs) to provide up-to-date Internet privacy information and model privacy policies to businesses nationwide.

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, Nickelodeon, Procter & Gamble, Reed Elsevier (LEXIS-NEXIS), Sony Electronics, US WEST, and Xerox.

Companies wishing to apply for the seal will find full details on the program's eligibility criteria, program specifics, and application process available at http://www.bbbonline.org.