AUSTIN, Texas – September 18, 2007 – Spiceworks™, Inc., the provider of the industry’s first free ad-supported IT management software, today announced that the Spiceworks IT Desktop software was certified as a Trusted Download by TRUSTe, the leading online privacy certification organization. As part of the certification, the Spiceworks IT Desktop version 1.6, currently being used by more that 120,000 SMBs to manage their computer networks, was added to the TRUSTe whitelist. This means that the Spiceworks IT Desktop clearly communicates key functionalities, obtains informed consumer consent prior to download, and provides an easy uninstall with clear instructions, among other requirements.
“The privacy of our customer’s data is a top priority at Spiceworks,” said Scott Abel, co-founder and CEO of Spiceworks, Inc. “From day one we have optimized the design of our software to ensure that all of our customers’ data is protected and under their full control. We decided to take the extra effort to undergo certification by TRUSTe because of the organization’s excellent reputation as a watch dog and advocate for consumer and business privacy rights.”
The TRUSTe Trusted Download Program certifies downloadable software and is designed to ensure this software contains no spyware or malware. Once on the whitelist, a Trusted Download is subject to ongoing monitoring of the application to ensure it still adheres to the program’s standards. The TRUSTe program sponsors – AOL, CA, CNET Networks, Microsoft, Verizon and Yahoo! – will use the whitelist as a tool to help make business decisions related to advertising, partnering and distributing software products.
“Spiceworks has passed the challenging certification process for the Trusted Download whitelist, demonstrating a commitment to protecting consumer privacy,” said Fran Maier, executive director and president of TRUSTe. “By completely informing users about the particulars of the downloads they offer up front, the participating companies are increasing transparency and giving control to users.”
The Spiceworks IT Desktop is designed for small and medium organizations with networks of up to 250 devices. Core product features include the ability to automatically discover, inventory, monitor, track and report on the hardware and software running in a network as well as integrated help desk and IT expert community collaboration capabilities. The free Spiceworks software is supported by displaying relevant ads on topics that are useful to IT professionals.
The complete set of TRUSTe program requirements and additional information on the certification criteria, program elements, FAQs and sponsor roles, is available on the Trusted Download website at www.truste.org/trusteddownload.
For more information about Spiceworks or to download the free Spiceworks IT Desktop software, visit www.spiceworks.com.
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