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AMERICANS SAY U.S. POSTAL SERVICE MOST TRUSTED AGENCY
FOR FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW
Ponemon Institute
Asks Consumers to Rank 74 Government Agencies
April 2008
Washington, DC - More than
86 percent of 9,000 Americans surveyed by the Ponemon
Institute ranked the Postal Service first among 74 government
agencies as the one that is best able to keep their
information safe and secure. Since the survey was first
conducted in 2004 the results suggest that a large proportion
of Americans do not trust the federal government's privacy
commitments. Yet the trust Americans have in the Postal
Service continues to grow every year.
Americans have always depended
on the security of the mail, and they trust the Postal
Service to protect their privacy according to the survey.
And postal service employees work hard to maintain that
trust. The survey shows that those agencies with the
most public interaction - and those that demonstrate
a healthy respect for maintaining public trust - have
always scored well over the years.
More than 40 percent of respondents
listed identity theft as their top concern, with most
citing concerns with the secure websites and the Internet.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, mail accounts
for only 2 percent of all identity theft, but for the
Postal Service, even this is too much. So, in February
the Postmaster General sent a letter to every address
in America with a brochure on preventing identity theft.
Survey respondents also listed
worries they had about how the federal government uses
their personal information. Both Customs and Border
Protection and the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
are among the five least trusted agencies. But the largest
privacy concern, the study shows, is "loss of civil
liberties and privacy rights," with 57 percent of Americans
listing this concern first.
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