Google's anouncement of a new policy that they will reduce log retention from 18 months to 9 months has been met with suspicion from regulators in both the U.S. and Europe. The reduction is primarily a response to EU regulators, who originally were the reason for the 18 month retention policy. EU regulators have continued to press Google for further reductions, resulting in the 9 month retention policy just announced.
Google claims that the retention of logs provides them with data to design improvements in search quality, security, fraud reduction and reducing spam. Critics claim that log retention potentially compromises privacy of Google users.
Clearly, log retention is an issue of privacy for many users. Some may have little interest in keeping their search data private but others may have real concerns. Are purchases through the use of credit cards not more revealing than searches for information on the internet? Do those purchases and the use of "loyalty cards" by retailers not result in a greater loss of privacy than Google's retention of logs of users' searches?
The unstated issue seems to be that through the use of logs, Google can target advertising. Through analysis of user site searches and IP addresses, user interests can be determined to allow focused advertising. This permits Google to increase revenue through advertising sales.
When it comes to privacy issues there will always be a conflict in how much is too much, how long is too long. Is regulation of retention of logs by businesses a proper function of government or should government's role be to protect privacy of users by protecting companies like Google from being forced to share their information?
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-feeling-the-heat-google-pledges-to-discard-user-data-after-nine-months/
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/another-step-to-protect-user-privacy.html
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Privacy seems to be a very common topic when Google is brought up. Just a few weeks ago there was the issue of Google and trespassing for photos. This had to do with the privacy of people in their own homes. We feel that this is similar and Google is walking a fine line when it comes to privacy. It is hard to say how much is enough and how long is too long because this is such sticky issue. The fact of the matter is Google is great at what they do and they are just trying to increase revenue. They have not necessarily done anything illegal and nothing has stopped them so far. The government's role should be to protect the privacy of users however that may be. That may require regulations for Google or protecting them from being forced to share their information. Once again though, Google provides a service that so many people use every day and they have a lot of power. It will take them doing more to actually have big restrictions enforced when it comes to privacy issues.
According to BBC news, google Privacy Policy is "too vague", which allows Google to share the information without breaking the law.
For example, in their privacy policy site they state "The whole process is automated and involves no humans", refering to the sharing of information with outside companies for target advertisement. They do share the information, but there is nothing the government could do to stop that under these circumstances.
Google continues to push the limits as far as privacy goes. The EU is far more strict on privacy policies and has pushed Google for these tighter retention logs.
In Google's defense, they are only looking to increase revenue and supply advertisers with better, more focused advertising to customers. Google's practice of sharing information has fallen under the same scrutiny in the US as Facebook and NebuAd. Congress has started to look into this practice of sharing search information. Congress believes this could be a form of "wiretapping".
Google will continue with their practices until it is proven to be illegal. The revenue upside is too important to their company to stop the practice.
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