EFF Privacy Ratings: Twitter Ranks High, Verizon Low

The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) has published a report ranking eighteen Internet companies on how well they protect user data. The group evaluated the companies in six different categories and awarded "stars" for each category where they were merited.

According to Engadget, "The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released its annual 'Who Has Your Back?' report, ranking 18 companies by how well they protect user information from government eyes. Twitter and Sonic.net get high scores from the EFF, as they meet all six of the organization's privacy guidelines, which include requiring a warrant for sharing content and telling users about government data requests."

PCMag's Stephanie Mlot explained, "Each company was judged by six criteria. Specifically, the EFF evaluated whether the firms: require a warrant before handing over user content; tell users about government data requests; publish transparency reports; publish law enforcement guidelines; and fight for users' privacy in courts and Congress."

ZDNet's Zack Whittaker noted, "While Twitter and Sonic.net were the only two firms to have been given full marks by the privacy group, Verizon and MySpace were given none. Second to that, Yahoo, which was given just one star for fighting for its users in court, and AT&T and Apple, which fight for users in Congress, were also given one star."

Jane McEntegart with Tom's Hardware observed, "The good news is that, in general, the EFF saw an increase in the number of companies publishing law enforcement guidelines compared to last year. In 2013, seven new companies were awarded stars in this category (Comcast, Foursquare, Google, Microsoft, SpiderOak, Tumblr, and Wordpress). There was also an increase in the number of companies promising to give users notice of law enforcement requests for their information."