Google, faced with a mountain of data on its users' web search habits, is taking steps to bolster consumer privacy protections in coming months, the company said.
The world's leading provider of web search said it is taking steps to anonymise, or obscure details, after 18 to 24 months on the surfing habits of tens of millions of web users that could potentially be used to identify individuals.
The Mountain View, California-based company collects information on web searches, such as the keyword queries, internet addresses and "cookies" used by websites and advertisers, to track web surfing habits.
The company stores data in massive computer data centres in various locations around the world.
"Previously, we kept this data for as long as it was useful," Google officials said. "Unless we're legally required to retain log data for longer, we will anonymise our server logs after a limited period of time."
Server log data are the endless files of words and numbers that computer administrators use to manage and track website activity. Google plans to implement the policy within the next year, it said.
In order to keep Google search as easy and convenient to web surfers as they repeatedly return to Google's search site, the company said it is necessary to keep limited personal details that tie a user to a computer so that Google's computers can tailor the search to the user's interests.
In promising to make these mounds of personal data anonymous after a period of up to two years, the company is responding to fears expressed by privacy advocates and some government regulators in the United States and Europe at the privacy dangers if such data were ever publicly exposed.
The world's leading provider of web search said it is taking steps to anonymise, or obscure details, after 18 to 24 months on the surfing habits of tens of millions of web users that could potentially be used to identify individuals.
The Mountain View, California-based company collects information on web searches, such as the keyword queries, internet addresses and "cookies" used by websites and advertisers, to track web surfing habits.
The company stores data in massive computer data centres in various locations around the world.
"Previously, we kept this data for as long as it was useful," Google officials said. "Unless we're legally required to retain log data for longer, we will anonymise our server logs after a limited period of time."
Server log data are the endless files of words and numbers that computer administrators use to manage and track website activity. Google plans to implement the policy within the next year, it said.
In order to keep Google search as easy and convenient to web surfers as they repeatedly return to Google's search site, the company said it is necessary to keep limited personal details that tie a user to a computer so that Google's computers can tailor the search to the user's interests.
In promising to make these mounds of personal data anonymous after a period of up to two years, the company is responding to fears expressed by privacy advocates and some government regulators in the United States and Europe at the privacy dangers if such data were ever publicly exposed.