Google Queried on Privacy Laws

Google have been recently told that it may be breaking European privacy laws by keeping people's search information on its servers for up to two years.

|PIC1|A data protection group that advises the European Union wrote to the search giant to express concerns.


"We believe it's an important part of our commitment to respect user privacy while balancing a number of important factors, such as maintaining security and preventing fraud and abuse," replied Google's Global Privacy Counsel.

Google collects and stores data from each query. It holds information such as the search term itself, the unique address of the PC being used, and details of how a user makes searches, such as the browser used and previous queries to Google.

Earlier this year Google had said it would make this information anonymous after 18 to 24 months.

However users are now concerned that this information is being held for far too long.

That information could contain private data about a user, and could be used to build a detailed picture of the user's habits or lifestyle.

Google has said it was using this information to help improve its different services and to monitor how its search engine was functioning.

Following investigations by the BBC, Google also stated that the logs they kept were to refine their search business, maintain security and protect people from spam.

They also added Google had recently changed its policy so that all the information was made anonymous after 18 months - instead of 24 - and promised that no information would be transferred to outsiders without the users explicit consent.

Google's Web History - available to users who have registered for a Google account - allows the user to view, delete and modify any of their search history.