Recently at Revenews some fiery discussion erupted over a paper that Harvard researcher, and research colleague, Ben Edelman, published about TRUSTe.

This resulted in some interesting dialogue and I inserted myself into the process to see if we could learn more….and issued a challenge in which interesting exchange ensued.

The Challenge E-mail: Recently I sent an e-mail to the TRUSTe representative. I am pleased to say Carolyn was gracious in accepting the challenge. Stay tuned. A partial excerpt below *with a mispell or two corrected on my end*: … Consider this a formal notice of my intent to publish list of questions -you may, of course, decline to answer any question, as some you may not be able to disclose. I have prepared the list of questions…Clarion Call Post

They responded and said bring it on- so as any researcher would do- I did bring them on- a bunch of them.

And we are off…

TRUSTe Answers The Challenge …  As per my previous open challenge to TRUSTe, Carolyn Hodge, Marketing Director for TRUSTe, accepted the question challenge to the many questions posed. Find below the answers transcribed from a read-only Word File sent per Carolyn- with a request of her own which I shall kick off in a new blog entry. Comments off, trackbacks on as per rules of engagement. Time permitting, I will post interesting links or entries in an addendum be they pro or con. As a mediator I will not interject any commentary.

Porter’s Interview With TRUSTe Carolyn Hodge: Thank you for the opportunity to answer these… TRUSTe Asks Ben Edelman Questions of - TRUSTe responded to my questions regarding Ben Edelman’s research and at the request of Carolyn Hodges I have agreed in kind to post questions from TRUSTe for Ben to answer as he see fits. Same rules of engagement apply although Ben has asked comments be left on. Questions Posed by Carolyn Hodges, Marketing Director of TRUSTe, to Ben Edelman per e-mail request of Wayne Porter. 1. Please explain your relationship with SiteAdvisor, how your expert reviewer status impacts ratings, and any financial benefit associated with being on the SiteAdvisor advisory board. 2. Has TRUSTe ever…

So TRUSTe did fullfill their obligations to participate in the conversation- I am just not sure how much they said. In an interesting twist Carolyn and asked me to pose question Mr. Edelman…I was happy to oblige…now acting as a courier between Caroyn Hodge and Ben Edelman.

Ben Edelman Responds to Questions from TRUSTe 2006-10-03  - Carolyn Hodge: Please explain your relationship with SiteAdvisor, how your expert reviewer status impacts ratings, and any financial benefit associated with being on the SiteAdvisor advisory board. Ben Edelman: I’m on the SiteAdvisor advisory board. I think I’ve done a good job of disclosing that early and often. SiteAdvisor’s web site includes a “reviewer” system by which interested Internet users can comment on any site SiteAdvisor has rated (and, for that matter, even on sites it hasn’t rated!). SiteAdvisor’s Reviewers page explains how the system works, in general…

All in all it is pretty interesting exchange and even more interesting is how fast the TRUSTe seal came down from the Direct-Revenue page….

What’s worse though is news like this from Jimmy Daniels- showing people shopping online less.

Trust has everything to do with it.

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