It should be noted that this was a web-based survey, not a ranking by security audits.
> Our Web-based research study asked respondents to name up to five companies in 25 different
industries they believe to be the most trusted for protecting the privacy of their personal
information [0]
It's not terribly surprising that, given only five choices, more people chose some of the most well-known corporations in the world rather than the relatively PR-challenged Mozilla.
True. Trustworthiness is probably not a good word. What I meant was that trustworthiness could be construed as a objective measure (such as that reached by diligent security and privacy experts), while whether or not you actually trust someone is basically a feeling. Maybe "Fitness to be trusted" is a better term?
Your intended meaning was very clear since you used parenthesized qualifiers. IMO any argument on your usage is pedantic at best, but I would have put it as perceived and empirical/actual trustworthiness.
> Our Web-based research study asked respondents to name up to five companies in 25 different industries they believe to be the most trusted for protecting the privacy of their personal information [0]
It's not terribly surprising that, given only five choices, more people chose some of the most well-known corporations in the world rather than the relatively PR-challenged Mozilla.
[0] http://www.ponemon.org/local/upload/file/2012%20MTC%20Report...