The high-tech industry had an overall average rating of 6.4 in the study, which examined how companies handle customer privacy and e-mail queries. That 6.4 rating was the same as in the previous six-month period. Scores in "The First Quarter 2006 Online Customer Respect Study of the High Technology and Computer Industry" range from a low of 1 to a high of 10.

The best sector in the industry was Internet services companies, which got an average rating of 7.0 and was led by online auction company eBay Inc., with a rating of 8.4. The worst-performing sector was computer and data services, with an average score of 6.1 despite an excellent rating for Electronic Data Systems Corp., which scored 8.7. EDS was the most improved company in the latest survey.

Surprisingly, 37 percent of the companies reviewed by The Customer Respect Group received a lower rating than they did six months ago; just 23 percent improved their scores.

"In the area of privacy, it was interesting that there was an increase in the number of companies that had an excellent mark in the privacy policies," said Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group. The study found a 50 percent increase in the number of companies with excellent ratings for privacy practices, while another 25 percent scored poorly on that benchmark.

The companies that handled privacy issues best included EDS, IBM, Xerox Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., according to the survey.