Google Tightens Data Retention Policy — Again
By MIGUEL HELFTUnder pressure from regulators, policymakers and privacy advocates around the world, Google said late Monday that it would further tighten its data retention policy. In its official blog, the company said it would “anonymize” search records after 9 months, rather than the current 18 months.
Google has always kept logs of all queries conducted on its search engine, along with IP addresses — digital identifiers linking those searches to specific computers and Internet browsers. Before last year, Google’s retained those logs indefinitely. But in March of 2007, the company said it would begin anonymizing those logs after 18 months. Other search companies quickly followed suit, unveiling their own, more privacy-friendly policies.
Google’s move of last March did not please all privacy advocates, and clearly, it was not enough to placate regulators, especially in Europe. In its blog post, Google said it adopted the tighter rules reluctantly, as data retention allows it to offer a better service for users. “While we’re glad that this will bring some additional improvement in privacy, we’re also concerned about the potential loss of security, quality, and innovation that may result from having less data,” the company said. And the company suggested that a further shortening of its data retention period would do little to protect users’ privacy.
Chris Hoofnagle, a privacy expert and senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology said the new policy was in line with Google’s approach to privacy. “Google has a vision for privacy where individuals will not hesitate to share even sensitive personal information in exchange for access to good products and services,” he said. “Key to achieving that vision is the removal of consequences for liberal sharing of personal data. Shortening the identifiable storage time reduces the risk of unintended, unforeseen uses of the data.”
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