Online bazaar eBay Inc. is the most trusted U.S. company for privacy, according to a new consumer study released late on Wednesday.
Internet companies, banks and health care organizations were seen as the most trustworthy, while the hotel industry and grocery store operators were seen as less trustworthy.
Rounding out the top 10, in descending order, are American Express Co., Procter & Gamble Co., Amazon.com, Hewlett-Packard Co., the U.S. Postal Service, IBM, EarthLink Inc., Citibank and Dell, according to the Ponemon Institute and the nonprofit TRUSTe, which polled more than 6,300 consumers for the study.
Web search leader Google Inc., which has recently come under fire from privacy advocates for its plan to deliver advertising based on key-words in messages sent through its planned Gmail service, received a positive ranking but did not place among the top 20.
Consumers said they cared most about a company’s overall reputation for product and service quality, followed by whether it limits the collection of customers’ personal information. Third most important was whether companies use advertisements and solicitations that respect consumer privacy.
EBay, which owns the PayPal online payment system, and several financial services companies, earned high marks despite being the target of fast increasing “phishing” attacks.
In such attacks, e-mail scammers pose as banks, credit card providers or other well-known companies and send out mass e-mails urging recipients to update account information on bogus Web sites that appear legitimate.
Thus far, eBay and other companies have avoided black eyes by devoting time and resources to teaching consumers to protect their personal information and by responding to reports of phishing and related “spoofing” attacks.
For example, eBay in September launched its “security center” with online safety and security tips. It also has added a link to that information at the bottom of every page on its site, a company spokesman said.
Larry Ponemon, founder of the Tucson, Arizona-based privacy think tank that carries his name, predicted that the attacks will make it more difficult for companies like PayPal and Citibank to communicate with customers via e-mail.
On other fronts, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the protection of civil liberties, particularly with regard to the sharing of personal information gathered online, as the United States government steps up its anti-terror battle.
“They are now worrying about 'Big Brother.’ It’s starting to pop up as a major privacy concern,” said Fran Maier, president and executive director of TRUSTe, a privacy certification and seal program.