The 20 Most Trusted Companies For Privacy

The Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe have released their annual list of the most trusted companies when it comes to consumer privacy. The list features the addition of Facebook into the top ranks, and the conspicuous absence of Google, which had ranked #10 in 2007.

The list is the result of a nationwide survey of nearly 6,500 U.S. adults. The participants were asked which companies they thought best safeguarded their personal information.

Coming in top for the second consecutive year was American Express, followed by eBay, IBM, and Amazon. Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, and HP all saw improved rankings from 2007 as well.

Here’s the full top 20 and how much they climbed/slipped from last year:

1. American Express (remained number one)
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)