Privacy group watching Go.com sale

Eight months after the controversial attempt by Toysmart.com to auction its customer data, Truste plans to watch closely as The Walt Disney Co. (dis) sells its Go.com online property later this year, a representative of the data watchdog said Thursday.

"We will need to be completely assured that they don't plan to sell their data," said David Steer, spokesman for privacy-policy auditor Truste, which has faced criticism in the past for failing to rebuke high-profile companies over data leaks. "We still need to have conversations with them about what they intend to do with the data."

On Monday, Disney announced that it would close the doors of its online portal Go.com, let go 400 employees, and sell the company's tangible assets. Several reports speculated that the company would also attempt to sell its customer data.

Disney flatly denied the reports of plans to sell customers' dossiers.

"I can't say this enough," said Michelle Bergman, spokeswoman for the entertainment company. "We are not going to sell our customer list." -- Robert Lemos, ZDNet News