To consumers, eBay and Amazon lead in protecting privacy, survey says

Researchers cite fears by some consumers about the consequences of entering their credit card numbers into the payments pages of web sites as one of the reasons that some people don’t shop online. But a new study shows, interestingly that two of the largest consumer web sites—eBay.com and Amazon.com—rank very high among all companies—and not just online companies—in consumers’ estimations of companies that protect privacy.

In fact, eBay was the most trusted company of all in protecting consumer privacy, says the survey of 6,300 consumers out today from the Ponemon Institute and the nonprofit TRUSTe. Amazon ranked No. 4 in consumer trust for privacy, behind American Express and Procter & Gamble. Next were Hewlett Packard, U.S. Postal Service, IBM, Earthlink, Citibank and Dell.

The study shows that Internet companies, banks and health care organizations have earned the greatest trust among consumers while companies in the hospitality and retail food store industries are not considered as trustworthy, the two organizations reported.

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The three top criteria that consumers apply to gauge a company`s trustworthiness are:
• the company`s overall reputation for product and service quality
• the company`s limits on collection of customers` personal information
• the use of advertisements and solicitations that respect consumer privacy.

Consumers were also asked what worries them most if their personal information were leaked to individuals or organizations that were not authorized to receive the information. 76% said identity theft was their biggest concern followed by spam concerns at 58%.

"This is the first study to link a consumer`s perceptions of a company`s ability to protect his/her personal information to specific companies and brands," said Larry Ponemon, founder and chairman of Ponemon Institute, an information management think tank. "Because consumers are becoming more concerned about identity theft and the safeguarding of their personal assets, a low privacy trust score could provide companies with an early warning signal that their reputation and brand loyalty might be in jeopardy."

"This survey shows that companies that make privacy a core value are rewarded by consumers with brand loyalty," said Fran Maier, president and executive director of TRUSTe. "Effective companies don`t consider privacy a compliance activity but rather a brand differentiation."

The survey consisted of a web-based and mail questionnaire that asked respondents to name up to five companies in 24 industry sectors that they believed to be the most trusted for honoring their privacy commitments. The survey did not provide specific company names.