The TRUSTe Internet privacy advocacy group --which offers seals of approval for Web sites with acceptable privacy policies and teaches Web site administrators how to write effective policies -- is being accused of tracking visitors to its own Web site.

TRUSTe entered into an agreement with Internet.com to monitor traffic on its Web site. The agreement says no personal information will be collected, and Alan Meckler, Internet.com's chief executive officer, says he was unaware that his company has tracked any Web sites visitors. But the specific programming used to track visitors is touted as offering "in-depth tracking information," the Associated Press reports.

Interhack, a Columbus, Ohio-based Internet security firm, noticed TRUSTe’s Web site placed "cookies" -- small data files containing the personal identification information -- onto the browsers of site visitors. Those cookies tracked the user for one browsing session and were then deleted once the browser is closed, the AP reports.

Matt Curtin, president of Interhack, says TRUSTe's use of cookies violates its mission.

"If we find that Internet.com is fraudulently breaking this agreement, then we're going to come down hard on them and encourage the rest of the Internet community to do the same," Dave Steer, CEO of TRUSTe, told the news service. "There is no way that TRUSTe is going to be affiliated with any organization that does this kind of thing."

Interhack is the same company that earlier this summer discovered Toys R Us allowed market researchers to use consumer data gathered from the company’s Web site -- including information about children visiting its Web site.

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