The Googlization of Everything

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EU urges Google to cut data retention to six months

Nine months good, six months better, says EU justice commissioner

Written by Tom Young

vnunet.com, 12 Sep 2008
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The EU's top justice official has said that Google has not gone far enough in cutting the time it keeps users' search details.

Google announced on 9 September that it will retain data logs for nine months rather than the previous 18 months.

However, EU justice and home affairs commissioner Jacques Barrot said that, although Google's announcement was "a good step in the right direction", the search giant should cut the time further to six months.

Barrot maintained that "awareness and compliance with fundamental human rights are of pivotal importance" for internet firms such as Google.

Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy adviser, said in response that the company would continue to work closely with EU data and privacy supervisors to "set the standard on respecting privacy".

An EU report in April by privacy watchdog the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party recommended changes to Google's practices to meet European data retention and privacy rules, stating that a reduction to six months was appropriate.

Google rejected the findings at the time. Fleischer wrote on his blog in April: "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."

Microsoft has an 18-month retention policy, and Yahoo keeps data for 13 months.