A recent poll finds Americans are not comfortable with thecollection of electronic data and are highly skeptical about it,but give the insurance industry decent marks.

The 17^th quarterly Allstate/National JournalHeartland Monitor Poll asks Americans their impressions about thecollection and use of electronic data by government, businessentities and others.

When asked how much trust do you have in groups or people toresponsibly use information about you—the insurance industryout-did the government, electronic service providers and others.While 48 percent say they trust the government a great deal orsome, more respondents—63 percent—say they trust Home, Auto andLife insurance companies more.

Even health insurers—who have received negative publicity—gothigher polling numbers at 59 percent.

The Internal Revenues Service, which is in the middle of acontroversy about flagging certain conservative groups forreview—did better than the government at 53 percent. Social mediasites and the media were at the lowest end of the polling at 25percent and 29 percent respectively.

The poll finds 85 percent of respondents believe theircommunications history—such as cell phones, e-mails, and Internetuse—are accessible to the government, business, and others. Themajority, 66 percent, feel that they have little or no control overthe type of information collected and used by groups andorganizations. As for correcting inaccurate information, 59 percentsays they feel they cannot.

"Americans are understandably concerned that the fundamentalAmerican right to privacy is no more," says Marci Kaminsky, seniorvice president of public relations for Allstate Insurance Co. MostAmericans are not happy or comfortable with the collection of data,she says, and have mixed feelings when it comes to trust. She saysprotecting privacy and rebuilding trust will require sharedaccountability and compromise with the public and private sectoralong with individual citizens.