Google slips from list of top companies on privacy

Correction, 12:07 p.m. PST: This story misstated the number of companies on the "most trusted" list. It is a top 20 list.
Update 1:19 p.m. PST: The top 20 list of companies was added, along with information about TRUSTe, which co-sponsored the survey.

Easy come, easy go.

Google has stepped off the top 20 list of the most trusted U.S. companies for privacy, according to a report in theSan Francisco Chronicle on Monday.

The Internet search giant was ranked No. 10 last year, but slipped off into the ether this year as the 6,500 people surveyed by the Ponemon Institute may have associated Google with "big company syndrome," the Chronicle story reported. TRUSTe co-sponsored the survey. The company aims to serve as the gold housekeeping seal of the Internet, by identifying various Web sites as trustworthy through its Web Privacy Seal, Email Privacy Seal, and Trusted Download programs.

In the fifth annual survey, people were asked to name "which companies they thought were most trustworthy and which did the best job safeguarding personal information," according to a press release Monday.

The Chronicle story, citing the Ponemon Institute, said:

"Google (and Microsoft) suffer from big company syndrome," Dr. Larry Ponemon said. "People figure that if you're big and collecting data, there must be an issue."

A number of technology companies, however, saw their ranking change, including eBay and Yahoo, according to the press release.

While the financial services sector slipped amid industry-wide woes, the technology sector showed marked improvement as eBay, Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, and HP all bettered previous rankings. Also of note, Facebook moved into the top 20 for the first time, signifying an increased trust in social networking as a mainstream communications tool.

Here are the top companies as ranked in the survey:

1. American Express (remained No. 1)
2. eBay (+6)
3. IBM (no change)
4. Amazon (+1)
5. Johnson & Johnson (+ 1)
6. Hewlett Packard (+10)
6. U.S. Postal Service (+1)
7. Procter & Gamble (+2)
8. Apple (new to the top 20)
9. Nationwide (remained the same)
10. Charles Schwab (-8)
11. USAA (+4)
12. Intuit (+7)
13. WebMD (-1)
14. Yahoo (new to the top 20)
15. Facebook (new to the top 20)
16. Disney (-1)
16. AOL (-12)
17. Verizon (new to the top 20)
18. FedEx (new to the top 20)
19. US Bank (-2)
20. Dell (-7)
20. eLoan (-9)

[HarlDelos]

Didn't the government just give Verizon retroactive immunity?

With Verizon ON the list, and Google OFF the list, I don't trust Ponemon's survey.

[DrtyDogg]

Verizon isn't on the list:
1) Amex
2)Ebay
3)IBM
4)Amazon
5)Johnson & Johnson
6)HP/US Postal service
7)Proctor & Gamble
8)Apple
9)Nationwide
10)Charles Schwab

[ducttape36]

charles schwab? ebay? interesting list.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Interesting...J&J makes cotton swabs and placed ahead of Charles Schwab.

[richard96816]

Microsoft doesn't just "suffer from big company syndrome." They've been monopolists and crooks since early in their history.

Google started out with a laudable philosophy, but is beginning to act like a large uncaring corporation.

[Brian]

Oh yes, just as I predicted.

Google will introduce their own operating system for the PC market to compete with "Windows" and the Mac "OS X" operating systems (and) I further predict it won't be free either.

[Forked_Tongue]

Google already sponsors an OS a cloud based version called "GOS" that you can download from http://www.thinkgos.com/ and see some of the products that vendor is running it on. The android for mobile is another one that google has dipped it's paws into as well. They expect people to store all their private info online, I guess it takes too much work to kick in the door as being the thought police, they expect people to confess and turn themselves in. Unfortunately they're not the only one who has this strategy, and the history these companies (yahoo, msn, etc) have shown to complying with governments with poor human rights records without court orders should scare everyone.

[JwL3394]

@Forked_Tongue
If you scroll down to the bottom, it says, "Google, Google Icons, and the Google Logo are trademarks of Google Inc. gOS is not affiliated with Google or their partners." The 'g' in gOS stands for 'good.' Google doesn't sponsor them, GoodOS LLC just loads the OS with lots of Google software. Also, If Google sponsored them, I don't think they'd show a laptop with Live Search open on the front page (although, it is in Chrome).

[robvme]

Are you joking? Ebay? Yahoo? Charles Schwab, IBM, P&G, J&J? How much did these companies pay to get on this list.

[Renegade Knight]

Good point on eBay. Ever since they pulled one of my auctions (DMCA Takedown) and then refused to share with me the takedown notice I've not had much use for them.

[iroq321]

Word must have gotten out that Google logs ALL of your searches INDEFINATELY...i'm no criminal, but i don't dig that.

[Csipa1]

Yeah, I will never have an AMEX card again after loosing my job for 2 weeks and honestly calling them to ask for a delay on my payment. They cancelled my card immediately, it had 20,000 points collected ( I used that card to buy everything for a year.) Now I have a pretty successful small business and simply refuse to take AMEX. So they can take their privacy bs to where the sun doesn't shine...AMEX SUXASS!

[rwrife]

It's really hard to trust this with the evil empire, Verizon, on the list.

[random truth]

But I can her you now...
Along with all the rest of the verizon stalkers.

[medezark]

With E-bay, Apple, AOL, and Nationwide on the list, proves the survey is worthless.