(Updates with Google comment)
BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - The European Union's privacy panel, the
Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, has called for a six-month time limit
on personal data storage from Internet search engine providers like Yahoo Inc.
and Google Inc., in a report seen by Thomson Financial News.
The panel said major search engines generally retain data about their users
in a personally identifiable form for over a year.
It said that while recent reductions in storage time were welcomed, "the
fact that leading companies in the field have been able to reduce their
retention periods suggests that the previous terms were longer than necessary".
The panel said in its report that it does not see a basis for storing data
beyond six months, even when search engines operate abroad.
If personal data is stored beyond that time, search engine providers "will
have to demonstrate comprehensively that it is strictly necessary for the
service."
The panel also advised that collected data should be deleted at the end of a
search session, and cookies' lifetime should not be longer than absolutely
necessary.
Search engine providers should also give users "clear and intelligible"
information about the identity, location and purpose of the data they are about
to collect.
Google's global privacy counsel, Peter Fleischer, said the company takes
privacy "incredibly seriously".
"It is the reason we were the first company to commit to anonymising our
search logs, and also why we dramatically shortened our preference cookie
lifetime," he said.
"We were pleased to have the chance to contribute fully to the Working
Party's inquiry and consider their report a welcome contribution to the
continuing debate in this important area. As we build new products and services,
we look forward to further discussion with privacy stakeholders around the
world," Fleischer added.
The Article 29 Data Protection Working Group makes recommendations and
advises the European Commission on privacy issues but has no policy-making
powers.
nina.chestney@thomson.com
nc/jlw/nc/slm
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