Search Engine, Google, Responds to Data Retention Policy Charges

Every time an internet surfer uses the Google search engine, his or her search data is retained by company for an indefinite period of time. This is seen as a problem by internet consumer watchdog groups and, recently, a European Union data protection advisory group sent a questioning letter to Google. The June 19th correspondence enquired why Google needed to retain search information for so long and warned that the policy was a threat to the personal and security rights of internet users. Essentially, Google collects the personal tastes and interests of surfers that could, in theory, be passed on to third party advertisers. Google, however, adamantly insists that it will never take this step.

In March of this year, Google put a time cap on its data retention policy that ? until then ? had no limit. The company stated that it would only retain information for a period of time between 18 and 24 months. However, this was not enough to satisfy the European Union group, who asked Google to justify their data policies. A spokesman for Google, Mr. Peter Fleischer, said that the company would be responding by saying that the company needs two years for security and commercial reasons and therefore justifies its data retention practices.

Fleischer said: "I will tell the working party that Google needs to hold on to its log database to protect itself and the system from attacks and refine and improve the effectiveness of our search results." In the meantime, Google has also asked other top search engines in the industry, such as Yahoo! and Microsoft to clarify their own data retention policies and hinted that the European Union?s request may be slightly discriminating towards Google.

                                 

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