TRUSTe has released the results of its analysis of the privacy practices of the largest brands in the US, and found that eBay is the most trusted company. Other web brands in the top ten include WebMD, Yahoo, and Facebook. Interestingly enough, Google didn’t crack the list.

Here is the top ten:

"According to the 2009 survey results, eBay is the Most Trusted Company for Privacy, proving that the e-commerce site can protect consumer privacy, all while handling massive volumes of sensitive data across the globe," says TRUSTe.

"Year in and year out our Most Trusted Companies for Privacy study is a fascinating snapshot of public sentiment toward business, and the overall drop of financial services organizations in 2009 continues that trend," says Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute, who commissioned the study. "With the banking industry at the center of a national financial crisis, it’s no surprise to see a loss of trust reflected in the rankings of even those top performers on this list. Meanwhile, the continued strong showing of e-businesses such as eBay, WebMD, Yahoo!, and Facebook seems to demonstrate consumers’ growing comfort with doing business online."

eBay was certainly happy about its ranking on the list. "We are honored to learn that TRUSTe and the Ponemon Institute have recognized our leading practices for privacy, security and trust – all qualities we feel are synonymous with our brand," said Scott Shipman, CPO of eBay "At eBay, we constantly and carefully listen to customer feedback and respond with program enhancements to improve the high level of trust and satisfaction our members enjoy."

I wonder if eBay’s trusted reputation will be tarnished after news of a lawsuit from Skype’s founders, who claim the company has been using their source code without permission. That’s not really a privacy issue though.