Ponemon Institute Announces 2007 Privacy Trust Rankings of U.S. Government Agencies

Rankings reflect strength of public trust in public institutions.

Traverse City, MI (PRWeb) February 21, 2007 -- Privacy and information management research firm the Ponemon Institute released its 2007 Privacy Trust Study of the United States Government. The report ranks from most- to least-trusted 74 federal agencies known to collect information on individuals. In its third year, the Privacy Trust Study of the United States Government seeks to determine and track public perceptions related to the ability of public institutions to safeguard citizen's privacy and personal information.

Data generated from the study is evaluated and ranked using the Ponemon Institute's Privacy Trust index and assigned a privacy trust score. According to the Ponemon Institute, the five most trusted federal agencies are:

Most Trusted U.S. Federal Organization 2007 Privacy Trust Score 2006 Privacy Trust Score

U.S. Postal Service 83% 82%

Federal Trade Commission 80% 78%

Bureau of Consumer Protection 79% 72%

National Institutes of Health 71% 69%

Census Bureau 68% 72%

The five least trusted federal agencies, according to the Ponemon Institute study:

Least Trusted U.S. Federal Organization 2007 Privacy Trust Score 2006 Privacy Trust Score

National Security Agency 19% 28%

Central Intelligence Agency 21% 21%

Department of Homeland Security 22% 17%

Office of Attorney General 23% 26%

Transportation Security Administration 25% 19%

"Because choice is often not an option for the citizens served by many public agencies, the preservation of individual privacy is of critical importance to maintaining the people's trust in government," Ponemon said. "The US Postal Service has a personal, daily relationship with most of us, and their consistently strong record of trust in our annual studies shows that they take that responsibility seriously."

Other notable findings in the 2007 Privacy Trust Study of the United States Government include the third year in a row the USPS has held the rank of most trusted federal agency, the dramatic drop in trusted status by the Veterans Administration following a massive data loss incident during the year studied. Also of note, the average privacy trust score of all 74 agencies studied fell from 47% to 45%; the benchmark average score from the study's first year was 52%.

Copies of the 2007 Privacy Trust Study of the United States Government are available through the Ponemon Institute (http://www.ponemon.org).

About the Ponemon Institute

The Ponemon Institute© is dedicated to advancing responsible information and privacy management practices in business and government. To achieve this objective, the Institute conducts independent research, educates leaders from the private and public sectors and verifies the privacy and data protection practices of organizations in a variety of industries.

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