Dell scolded for laptop ads

Dell has been asked to avoid calling its notebooks the 'world's most secure'

Dell has earned the scorn of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) over its claim of having the world's most secure notebooks.

The BBB's National Advertising Division (Nad) said in a report last week that Dell did not have sufficient evidence to back up a claim in its ads.

The complaint centres mainly around the encryption features used in the notebooks. Dell based the claim on its use of encryption hardware and software from third-party vendors.

Lenovo, which uses in-house encryption products, filed the complaint accusing Dell of making the 'most secure' claim without proof.

The BBB agreed, to an extent. While the security features were innovative, Lenovo could not guarantee that Dell could not back up the claim, particularly among smaller businesses and networked machines.

"Nad determined that the advertiser could truthfully advertise its position as the first in the industry to combine these particular third-party components in creating secure systems for large businesses," the watchdog said.

"But Nad observed the distinction between the security provided to the individual computers and the security provided to a large network of computers.

"Since not all of the components of the FDE Encryption Solution are equally relevant for all sizes of business, Nad recommended the advertiser make this distinction to the extent that it intends to make broad security claims."

Dell vowed to comply with the recommendations and said that it was pleased with the findings in regards to the validation of the 'unique' and 'meaningful' labels.

The Nad did not mention any penalties to be levied in the case, noting that Dell had voluntarily discontinued the ads after the investigation was announced.

"On the basis of the evidence in the record, Nad determined that the advertiser demonstrated that it offered features of computer security that were both unique and meaningful to consumers," it concluded.

"However, it also determined that the broad claim 'world's most secure' was not adequately supported and was appropriately discontinued."