"Ultimately, you have to trust the agent that's doing the tracking, " he says.

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This approach of having a software agent negotiate trust with the web site for you requires some new technical innovations.

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You can't run an agent without trust on both sides.

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According to a survey by the Cerulli Associates consulting firm, at least half of U.S. households do not use a financial advisor, broadly defined as a stockbroker, a fee-only planner, a bank trust officer or an insurance agent.

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Where an institutional customer has delegated decisionmaking authority to an agent, such as an investment adviser or a bank trust department, these factors shall be applied to the agent.

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As the X-Files Agent Mulder would say, trust no one.

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Mr Finlay said he met with the land agent in spring 2010 to discuss renting one of the Buchanan Trust farms, who said a property would be available in six months.

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O'Mara said the money has been put into a trust he controls, and his team announced Tuesday that a former IRS agent has been hired as a third-party administrator to handle the funds.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

People who want to take advantage of this year's gift-tax exemption should beware of one giant constraint: The Internal Revenue Service will deny tax benefits to a trust if the person who sets it up retains control, either himself or through an agent.

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