Google Reduces Search History Storage to 18 Months - down from 24 months

Posted by Marshall on June 15, 2007 | Link It

Honestly, the news of Google reducing the amount of Search and Web History they're keeping on everyone that has a Google account going down by 25% (6 months) should be good news - but I'm more or less indifferent to it - because the fundamental issue of why they're collecting this data has not been dealt with.

"……

ekg11.jpgTuesday, Google announced that it would reduce the records of search histories from 24 months to 18 months.  Google has been pressured by many privacy activists for a reduction. The information which Google shares on search trends, yet keeps personal information private, will be made anonymous after a year and a half.

“We looked at what other companies in the industry do, and we were not able to find explicit and clear privacy policies,” said Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy counsel. “Retention of logs data is critical to our ability to operate and improve our services and to provide adequate security for our users,” he continued.

The new policy came only days after a poor rating from Privacy International was released with Google being the lowest rated of all major Internet properties. “We were disappointed with the report because it is full of numerous inaccuracies,” said Fleischer."

I agree - there needs to be better Privacy Rules and I don't think they're in place yet. 

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These are the current comments for "Google Reduces Search History Storage to 18 Months - down from 24 months"

HealthCareVox
06/19/07 @ 10:42 am

Google recently responded to a letter sent last month by the European Union questioning how the company stores online search information.  Chief among the EU’s concerns was the fact that Google stores information about users’ search pa…



Matt Bennett
07/03/07 @ 9:19 am

I found your post to be very interesting especially in regards to how web servers like Google pretend that they value users’ privacy but still collect and retain personal information for over a year. I agree that we need to establish better privacy rules.

My organization the New Millennium Research Council (NMRC) recently explored the privacy and security concerns associated with data retention mandates in its online newsletter. The newsletter shares the views of Hance Haney, a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and Peter Swire, a professor of law at the Ohio State University and a fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Here are the key points that they make:

Haney concluded that collecting users’ IP addresses would not stop criminals from connecting to public Wi-Fi access points as anonymous users. Even if these public hotspots required users to register, Haney explained that criminals would use residential wireless networks that are “frequently unsecured.”

Swire concluded that the US should continue to use the current data preservation law and not adopt a nationwide data retention mandate. Swire, however, said that the data preservation system must be improved to ensure that any sensitive government data collected by ISPs would not end up in the wrong hands and threaten our national security.

You can read the NMRC’s newsletter at:

http://newmillenniumresearch.org/milestones/june2007.html



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