OTA Announces Online Trust Town Hall Meeting
Critical point in online trust leads top brands and prominent public institutions to collaborate 

SEATTLE, WA and SAN FRANCISCO, CA- March 19, 2009) - Today, the Online Trust Alliance (OTA) announced it will host the 2009 Online Trust Town Hall Meeting as a continuation of similar programs held over the past four years. Coinciding with the ad:tech and RSA conferences, the event will take place at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on Thursday, April 23. The forum will highlight safe, secure and strategic ways companies can conduct business online while enhancing consumer trust.

OTA organized this town hall forum because brands are at a crucial point where the difference in online trust could mean sink or swim. In the absence of effective self-regulation, governmental bodies worldwide are demanding more scrutiny, accountability and privacy regulation. In addition, recent OTA member research confirms consumers are up to ten times more concerned about trust than price when purchasing online. Combined, these are proven to impact the growth and vitality of ecommerce.

"In today's economy, more than ever, we must work together and embrace solutions and principles which provide user control and choice," said OTA Chairman and Founder Craig Spiezle. "By promoting online transparency, user choice and control of their data, and business accountability, we are giving the power back to the people while enhancing brands reputations."
Town Hall topics will include:

• Email marketing's impact to brand trust and the bottom line. The panel will discuss the importance of user choice, frequency, relevancy and accountability. Recently published research from AOTA members including VeriSign, Microsoft and TRUSTe will be presented.
• Criticality of providing consumers transparency, choice and control of their data and online profiles. In the era of social networking data mining, this panel will provide guidance on what publishers and advertisers need to consider to avert a trust meltdown.
• Best practices scorecard. Recap of Fortune 500 adoption of the latest online security technology and case studies of brands which are unnecessarily exposed to exploits.
• Data and site exploit planning. Guidance on what brands need to do BEFORE their data and/or site is compromised. As data governance and consumer notification are being mandated worldwide, participants will discuss whether a disaster plan should be mandatory for commerce and banking sites.

Speakers participating in the conference are from or formerly with Facebook, Bank of America, Microsoft, Publishers Clearing House, the White House, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Center for Democracy & Technology and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
"By providing this forum, attendees will get a broad viewpoint from the world's leading brands and public institutions," said former White House Cyber Security Advisor, AOTA board member and Town Hall speaker Howard Schmidt. "This meeting of the minds will help close the gap in the online trust ecosystem and provide businesses an understanding of the urgency and steps they need to take today."

The Online Trust Town Hall Meeting is open to the public for a $100 attendance fee. Attendance is no charge for AOTA members and accredited media. More Information including the recently announced Email Authentication Workshop.

About The Online Trust Alliance (AOTA) https://www.aotalliance.org/
The mission of AOTA is to create a trusted global online ecosystem and foster the elimination of email and Internet fraud, abuse and cybercrime; thereby enhancing trust, confidence and the protection of businesses and consumers. Through its member companies and organization affiliates, AOTA represents over one million businesses and 500 million users worldwide. AOTA is a 501c6 IRS-approved non-profit, governed by a Board and Steering Committee including Bank of America, BoxSentry, Datran Media, Epsilon, Goodmail Systems, Iconix, Internet Identity, IronPort (a division of Cisco Systems), MarkMonitor, Message Systems, Microsoft Corporation, MX Logic, Return Path, Symantec Corporation and VeriSign.