Google speaks out against tighter data deletion rules
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Search engine provider Google has spoken out against the possible enforcement of more stringent data deletion rules.
The Article 29 Working Party, a European commission (EC) advisory body, has recommended that search engines delete the data they collect concerning their users after six months.
Although not yet adopted by the EC as law, the report is expected to get the legal backing of the commission.
Currently, Google, along with Microsoft, stores users’ private data for 18 months, while Yahoo! holds on to such information for 13 months.
Writing in a company blog, Peter Fleischer, global privacy counsel for Google, stated: “We believe that data retention requirements have to take into account the need to provide quality products and services for users, like accurate search results, as well as system security and integrity concerns.”
He added that the Working Party’s findings also suggested that IP addresses should be treated as personal information, “with the full weight of data protection laws”.
Mr Fleischer, however, went on to say that, based on Google’s own analysis, the search engine provider believes that “whether or not an IP address is personal data depends on how the data is being used”.
Meanwhile, Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, told Bloomberg news agency that moves to tighten the laws concerning keeping user data “may threaten ‘the golden goose’ of the broader business of internet advertising, which uses customers’ online records to offer personally targeted ads”.
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