We are optimistic with today’s announcement of the TRUSTe “Trusted Download Certification Program,” which should finally create meaningful industry standards. Backed by some of the biggest consumer-facing software companies in the world, the stringent (yet fair) criteria announced today should finally create a clear differentiation between legitimate and nefarious programs. The former will survive. Bad actors will not.

This is huge news for our industry, as this certification program finally levels the playing field by creating a third-party legitimizing mechanism with universally-accepted standards. 

It’s also huge for advertisers and web publishers who now have a way to distinguish the good actors from the bad ones. Many big-name advertisers and their millions of ad dollars have been sitting on the online side lines waiting for better definition around what is and is not acceptable. Using this certification whitelist, these advertisers can now have much greater confidence that they are working with legitimate companies who follow stringent and widely accepted best practices.

Thanks to our S3 initiative, we’re already well on our way to being compliant with these new standards. We expect to be fully compliant by the time TRUSTe formally begins to accept applications for certification early next year.

Inevitably, those who are critical of the search marketing industry may claim that this certification program wrongly provides opportunity for legitimization for programs that don’t deserve it. In the world of long-tail content, no one other than the user has the right to judge if an application is of value or if it isn’t.

If a company is certified through the TRUSTe  “Trusted Download Certification Program,” we can deduce that the user is given industry agreed-upon standards as to opt-in, consent, overall program behavior and access to information about the program, including instructions for complete uninstall. Through these universal standards, the user is provided with all of the necessary information to make the decision as to if they want to proceed with the download. As long as proper notification is given, it is the user’s decision from there, not the zealots’.

The question will be asked, “Does this legitimize adware?”

The answer is categorically yes. Millions upon millions of consumers around the world have knowingly been saying that for many years. Zealots will continue to disparage targeted advertisements while real-world users and real-world advertisers know they are more effective and helpful than page-embedded advertising.

What TRUSTe’s certification program will do is kill off the bad actors because they will no longer be able to find advertisers willing to support them.

Hats off to TRUSTe.