We transmit and share a ton of information about ourselves online these days. A little concern about how companies and governments and other people treat that personal content is a very good thing.

The privacy seal seller TRUSTe is now going to start asking that do-you-worry question (and some follow-ups) on a quarterly basis, in what it’s calling the Consumer Confidence Privacy Index.

The first time TRUSTe asked — in an online survey of 2,415 U.S. adults in Jan. 2012, conducted by Harris Interactive — 90 percent of respondents said they are worried about online privacy.

Further, 41 percent of those surveyed said they don’t trust most businesses with their personal information online. But that means that 59 percent do.

TRUSTe and Harris also asked whether that lack of trust leads to action. Eighty-eight percent of participants reported that they avoid doing business with companies who they believe do not protect their privacy.

But do people really act on those moral high grounds, and punish specific companies like Path when their privacy oversteps are exposed? Sometimes.

In a separate survey, Digital World Research looked at how upset Google users are over the company’s announcement that it will consolidate its privacy policies and share data between some Google-owned services that hadn’t before.

That survey was only of 60 users, but it found that 60 percent of them said they were concerned about Google aggregating personal data to serve more personalized advertisements.

A slightly larger portion of respondents — 69 percent — said they were “not at all likely” to stop using Google products because of the changes.

Only 4.8 percent told DWR they were “very likely” or “extremely likely” to stop using a Google product because of the changes.

A couple of months back, I wrote about two more studies that looked at how people feel about privacy settings. Here’s that story.

What none of these studies did was measure actual user behavior; they were all surveys that depended on people reporting their own habits and intents.

Last week, Common Sense Media released a poll it conducted that showed parents fretting about the growing power of social networks.

Now, TRUSTe, a Web privacy trustmark firm, has released another, titled “The Kids Are Alright,” which shows a little-nicer picture, especially for Facebook.

In fact, according to the survey–based on responses from 2,000 parents and teens, ages 13 to 17–parents and teens feel in control of social networking sites, including their privacy.

Wrote TRUSTe of the poll:

“It reflects in many ways parents and teens doing the right things on social networks. For example, parents are monitoring and engaging with their teens online; and, teens are using available privacy controls.”

The possible snafus: Teens oversharing, overfriending and, of course, overhiding from parents.

Yes, all that.

Here is the official press release, a short and long version of the study and some tips for teens, as well as a guide for parents:

TRUSTe Social Networking Survey Results Release_Draft 7_101310_KB

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TRUSTe Parent and Teen Social Networking Study _Full_

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SNS_ParentGuide

This month, online privacy start-up ReputationDefender Inc. plans to disclose that it has raised $15 million in new venture funding–even though the company wasn’t actively looking for new cash. SafetyWeb Inc., which helps parents monitor their kids’ online activities, said Thursday it closed $8 million in funding. And Truste, which offers seals of approval to websites that meet certain privacy standards, raised $12 million earlier this month.

Many of the investors include top-tier venture-capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Accel Partners. Venture firms such as Jafco Ventures, Atlas Venture and Battery Ventures also have invested in online-privacy start-ups in the past few months.

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Everyone loves Google. Sounds like so much hyperbole now, but at the time it was essentially a truism.

Eight years later, that’s no longer really the case. Today, Google seems a distorted reflection of the ideals that made it so beloved. Google’s enormous success and relentless pursuit of new markets have inspired some to take an evil-empire view of the company. And Google (GOOG), by virtue of its protean business model and the arrogant righteousness with which it executes on it, perpetuates that view–although the company likely considers those who hold it to be Luddites.

Sure, everyone loved Google in 2001. But in 2008 they fear it. The Google of 2001 was a fascinating corporate anomaly, a company known for its colorful campus, lunar exploration grants and a cafeteria so good it was profiled in Food & Wine. The Google of 2008 is a different beast entirely. It’s a company accused of privacy violations in the states and abroad. It’s a company whose fast-broadening reach has given it unchecked power. And, it’s a company that last month came within three hours of a Department of Justice antitrust suit.

No wonder it’s fallen off the TRUSTe/Ponemon Institute’s list of the top 20 most trusted companies in the United States.

And it’s quite a tumble Google’s taken. The company ranked 10th in the Ponemon opinion surveys conducted in 2006 and 2007. This year it didn’t even merit a ranking. Quite a blow for a company for whom user trust is critical. But then consumer perception is a fickle animal, as Google founder Sergey Brin once noted. “Some say Google is God,” Brin said back in 2003. “Others say Google is Satan.”

Seems the latter camp’s picked up quite a few new members in the ensuing years….

[Image Credit: Google Blogoscoped]