Top 10 Most Trusted US Brands
Tech brands have earned consumer trust for privacy, rubbing shoulders with some of the most established brands in America says a new study released by The Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe.
Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe conducted a two-stage survey to gauge the privacy policies and practices of leading consumer brands. First, the companies were rated as “most trusted” in an unaided survey of 6,486 adult-aged U.S. consumers. Second, an expert review panel at the Ponemon Institute judged the companies based on rigorous criteria, including the clarity and readability of privacy statements, notice, access to account information, cookie management, in- and out-of-network data sharing practices, as well as the availability of customer service staff.
According to the 2009 survey results, eBay is the Most Trusted Company for Privacy, proving that the e-commerce site can protect consumer privacy, while handling massive volumes of sensitive data. For the first time a telecommunications company made the top 10. Verizon earned the ranking as the second most trusted company. Despite negative press coverage on Facebook’s privacy problem, the 300 million user social networking company broke into the top 10, indicating Facebook’s new privacy practices re approved by both their user community and privacy experts.
Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute said, “Year in and year out our Most Trusted Companies for Privacy study is a fascinating snapshot of public sentiment toward business.With the banking industry at the center of a national financial crisis, it’s no surprise to see a loss of trust reflected in the rankings of even those top performers on this list. Meanwhile, the continued strong showing of e-businesses such as eBay, WebMD, Yahoo!, and Facebookseems to demonstrate consumers’ growing comfort with doing business online.”
2009 Award Winners
The Ponemon Institute is a privacy-focused research center. TRUSTe is a privacy services and seal provider. The #1 ranked auction site eBay, the #2 ranked cell phone provider Verizon and #10 ranked Facebook are Gold Award Winners in their respective categories on TopTenREVIEWS.
