Google To Anonymize User Data

[IDemo]

Google is reversing a long-standing policy to retain all the data on its users indefinitely, and by the end of the year will begin removing identifying data from its search logs after 18 months to two years, depending on the country the servers are located in.

Currently, Google retains indefinitely detailed server logs on its search engine users, including user's IP addresses – which can identify a user's computer, the query, any result that is clicked on, their browser and operating system, among other details. Even if a user never signs up for a Google account, those searches are all tied together through a cookie placed on the user's computer, which currently expires in 2038.

The new policy will be global, but there will be variances by country, especially in Europe where a data retention rule passed in 2005 requires ISPs and phone companies to keep data from six months to two years. After that time period, Google will "anonymize" the search data from web and image searches by dropping either the second half or last quarter of I.P. addresses, thus turning an address such as 127.0.34.35 into 127.0 or 127.0.34. The goal is to make it technically impossible to retroactively tie a query back to a computer, unless the query included identifying information.

User logs from services that require log-ins, such as personalized search, Google Documents and Gmail will not be subject to this policy. Those services are governed by their own privacy policies. More can be found on this at Google's official blog announcement.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/03/google_to_anony.html