Google Improves Search Privacy

By Greg McNevin

March 16, 2007: In a move that will please all those who value their online privacy, Google’s practice of storing search and user details indefinitely is coming to an end.

The company announced that information gathered from cookies used to track user visits along with portions of IP addresses will be routinely erased 18 – 24 months after collection, improving anonymity.

"We're pleased to report a change in our privacy policy," Google lawyers Peter Fleischer and Nicole Wong wrote on the company's website. "Unless we're legally required to retain log data for longer, we will anonymise our server logs after a limited period of time."

Up until now, Google and other prominent search engines have been quite cagey about the storage and use of collected search data. This has draw criticism from privacy advocates, particularly when some engines were forced to hand over detailed search data to government departments conducting investigations.

"I think it is an important step in the right direction," Internet rights attorney Kurt Opsahl of the Electronic Freedom Foundation told The Daily Telegraph. "I hope it inspires a competition with other search engines to see which can provide the best privacy protection."

Google claims it plans to implement the new policy within a year.

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