A web site with the TRUSTe seal protects users' privacy
Facebook replaced Google as one of 2008 top 20 most trusted web sites in the world.
Despite the current financial climate, American Express retained its place from last year as the “Most Trusted Company for 2008 for Privacy”. While Nationwide, U.S. Bank and eLoan managed to stay in the top 20, Countrywide Financial and Bank of America (which acquired Countrywide) dropped off the list.
Technology sector privacy is improving
The technology sector showed marked improvement as eBay Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, and H-P all bettered previous rankings. Other tech companies include AOL, Dell, IBM and Intuit. Verizon was the only telecom operator of the list.
The ranking was published this morning by San Francisco privacy firm TRUSTe which ensures online privacy and protects confidential user information on more than 2,400 Web sites and many of the most highly trafficked, including Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, Disney, eBay, Intuit, and Facebook.
The study asked 6,486 adult-aged U.S. consumers which companies they thought were most trustworthy and which did the best job safeguarding personal information. A total of 706 companies were named by consumers; 211 made the final list of most trusted companies.
The top 20 ranking follows.
| 2008 Ranking | 2008 Ranking |
| 1 American Express (remained number one) | 12 Intuit (+7) |
| 2 eBay (+6) | 13 WebMD (-1) |
| 3 IBM (no change) | 14 Yahoo! (new to the top 20) |
| 4 Amazon (+1) | 15 Facebook (new to the top 20) |
| 5 Johnson & Johnson (+1) | 16 Disney (-1) |
| 6 Hewlett Packard (+10) | 16 AOL (-12) |
| 6 U.S. Postal Service (+1) | 17 Verizon (new to the top 20) |
| 7 Procter & Gamble (+2) | 18 FedEx (new to the top 20) |
| 8 Apple (new to the top 20) | 19 US Bank (-2) |
| 9 Nationwide (remained the same) | 20 Dell (-7) |
| 10 Charles Schwab (-8) | 20 eLoan (-9) |
| 11 USAA (+4) |
