Microsoft says "we will if you will" on search data privacy
By John Lister
Microsoft says it’s willing to abide by a request from European regulators that it limit the data it keeps of search records. But the firm says it will only do so if both Yahoo and Google follow suit.
The request comes from a panel made up of the data protection chiefs from the 27 European Union Countries. The panel urged search firms to only keep raw records of search requests for six months before anonymizing it. (After this process, firms can still trace overall trends such as which search phrases are most common, but can no longer link individual searches to a particular user). At the moment the time it takes before this process ranges from nine months (Google) to 18 months (Microsoft).
Microsoft has now written to the panel to say it agrees in principle with the request, but thinks changing its policies would cause an unfair commercial disadvantage if Google and Yahoo don’t also comply. The firm says this would be a particular problem in Europe where it only has a 2 percent share of the search market.
There is something to this claim. Keeping records of individual users search activity gives search companies the ability to better target advertising to a particular user. The longer firms can keep this personal data, the more accurate a picture they can build and thus the more they can make from advertising, either through charging higher rates or from getting more money from pay-per-click deals.
The panel was due to meet this week to decide on any further action but has decided to wait until February at which point it will hear presentations from the three search giants. PCWorld reports that, today at least, Google was publicly sticking to its position of keeping data for nine months.
As well as the commercial aspect, there are complex legal issues involved. The European regulators want to uphold strict privacy principles which frown upon firms holding too much data on individuals. Meanwhile there have been arguments that search firms (and internet providers) need to keep data even longer so that they can provide details to police and other security officials investigating criminals and terrorists.
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