Can You Trust TRUSTe?

TRUSTe's director of marketing told me that nothing in Coupons’ behavior indicated malicious intent. I guess I look at things differently. After a few years in the security business, when I see companies putting misleadingly named program files and data on the system, I tend to lose trust in them. I still haven't heard from Coupons about why it needs to install hidden program files with misleading names in the Windows System directory, a practice long known by even newbie programmers to be bad practice.

Another thing TRUSTe doesn't say in its blog is that Stottlemire has a history with Coupons. The company has been suing him for months now. Pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and state laws, Coupons has been trying to get a court to compel Stottlemire to stop revealing details of how its software works, including instructions on how to completely remove it from one's computer. Click here for Stottlemire's comprehensive rant on the legal issues.

Stottlemire also argues that TRUSTe has been far too credulous of Coupons’ claims and, apparently, does not test software as well as it claims to. He specifically claims to have proof that the old version of Coupons software was online long before March 15, but TRUSTe has chosen to believe Coupons instead.

He also claims that the program, which TRUSTe says is compliant with its privacy requirements, "still uses a deceptively named random registry key hidden in the Windows registry in a place it obviously does not belong and further hides a deceptively named file which collects pseudonymous data about a consumer's computer in the windows or windows system32 directory, again a random decision."

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I haven't validated every point Stottlemire makes, but I haven't seen him wrong on anything. Currently, the program creates misleadingly named registry keys and files that are not removed when the program is uninstalled, in violation of TRUSTe's rules, and TRUSTe is happy about it and there is a TRUSTe seal on the Coupons site again.

I should add that Jeff Weitzman of Coupon said that "we are now testing a new version that makes the CID visible when installed, along with an updated uninstaller. If testing goes well, this will be released in a couple of weeks." He told me that this was at TRUSTe's request, but since the logo is there now, I guess it's not at its demand.

At this rate, there may eventually be a happy ending, when Coupons responds to the last complaint and the last vestiges of its legal actions against Stottlemire are dismissed. But it will take much longer before I think of trusting its software on my computers. And if I know not to trust a TRUSTe seal without corroboration, what good is it anyway?

Security Center Editor Larry Seltzer has worked in and written about the computer industry since 1983.

For insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK.com Security Center Editor Larry Seltzer's blog Cheap Hack.