Whether consumers know it or not, some Web services are better at protecting their personal information than others. In an annual survey, the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave Twitter near perfect marks -- three and a half gold stars out of four -- for its ability to guard consumer data. Beating out the tweet machine was service provider Sonic.net, which was the only company to score four-out-of-four stars.
For its survey, the EFF examined the policies of 18 major Internet companies to assess whether they publicly commit to standing with users when the government seeks access to user data. The companies included email providers, ISPs, cloud-storage providers, and social networking sites. “They looked at terms of service, privacy policies, and published law enforcement guides, if any,” The Los Angeles Times reports.
“They also looked at who went to the mattresses in court for their users' privacy and whether they’re members of the Digital Due Process Coalition, which works to update outdated communications law.” The stars represent: telling users about data demands, being transparent about government requests, fighting for user privacy in the courts and participating in a coalition to lobby Congress on user privacy.