Date: Thursday, August 2, 2007
New moves to limit stored search engine data
Recent reports launched by the search engine giants set out new parameters for the information they store about people.
Although you may not know it, search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask retain an enormous amount of information about the people who use their sites, such as the operating system and browser you use, the sites you visit most often, and the sequence in which you view sites. They also know the results of your searches on their sites, meaning that anyone hacking in to this information could find out your exact location, hobbies, interests and life activities. The amount of information stored, and the somewhat less than safe way it is stored by the search engines has made some users uneasy. Therefore these latest measures seek to alleviate this by reducing the length of time information is stored for; Google has announced it will delete our browser’s address after 18 months, and the information gathering ‘cookies’ which retain data about our searching patterns after two years. Yahoo has said it will remove all information stored after 13 months, and Ask has even initiated plans for an AskEraser with which people can use their site and then delete all data generated by the search afterwards.
The companies have also called upon all search engines to collaborate in writing a shared code of conduct as to how users’ information will be stored, so that there is a universally-accepted manner of dealing with individual’s personal data. Such measures are hoped to alleviate the worries of many people using search engines that their private information is being stored carelessly and could be used by others for ill-intent. They should also remove fears that inaccurate information gleaned from unintentional clicking on sites is being used to generate person-specific content for searches. This new legislature should increase the amount of people using search engines, so this is indeed a positive move for the websites creating these new reforms.
Sources:
BBC News
BBC News
BBC News
BBC News
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