(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)
After consultations with privacy groups in Europe and the US, Google has decided to reduce to 18 - 24 months, the retention time for data related to users and their searches.
Google is presently storing search information together with IP (Internet Protocol) addresses which can be further on used to identify the person behind a search. "When you search on Google, we collect information about your search, such as the query itself, IP addresses and cookie details," said a Google blog post written by Peter Fleischer, the company's privacy lawyer in Europe, and its deputy general counsel Nicole Wong.
The company has announced that it will now limit this data retention period by deleting the IP addresses related to searches after 18-24 months. The search information itself will be still stored for as long as considered necessary.
"(...)unless we're legally required to retain log data for longer, we will anonymize our server logs after a limited period of time. We will continue to keep server log data but will make this data much more anonymous, so that it can no longer be identified with individual users, after 18-24 months." said Fleischer and Wong.
This measure was considered by privacy advocates as a positive one. "It's the type of thing we have been advocating for a number of years" was Ari Schwartz's, deputy director of the CDT, statement to BBC.
Mr. Fleischer said that the company would keep the information for up to 24 months in order to be in agreement with the EU Data Retention Directive that gave the member states mandate to pass laws that would force ISPs to retain certain customer data for a period varying between 6 months and 2 years.
Privacy groups are still concerned about the fact that the data collected by Google or other search engines or web companies could be used to monitor people's online habits.
Richard Clayton, a researcher at Cambridge University specialised in web traceability, considers Google's initiative as a good movement but still insufficient as he considers that there is no real justification for retaining the data for 2 years.
He believes that the company takes advantage of the European directive in establishing the time limits to hold to the data and that the real reason is actually a financial one related to the costs involved in anonymising the searches.
"There is no sense of whether this directive even applies to web search logs," he said.
Google considers that by taking this measure it is "striking the right balance between two goals: continuing to improve Google's services for you, while providing more transparency and certainty about our retention practices," as stated Fleischer and Wong. However they have also added that: "In the future, it's possible that data retention laws will obligate us to retain logs for longer periods."
Yahoo, on the other hand, stated it would keep the data for as long as the EU directive requires but made no statement on what would happen after 24 months.
"We are reviewing the European Data Retention Directive as it comes into force across Europe. Our services covered by the directive will comply with the laws as they are enacted in each country that we have a presence." was Yahoo comment.
Taking steps to further improve our privacy practices (14.03.2007)
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/taking-steps-to-further-improve...
Privacy bodies back Google step (15.03.2007)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6453137.stm
Google will delete search identifiers after two years (20.03.2007)
http://www.out-law.com/page-7888
Google Log Retention Policy FAQ (14.03.2007)
http://216.239.57.110/blog_resources/google_log_retention_policy_faq.p...