[privacy] Microsoft curtails how long it stores Web searches

[<rms () computerbytesman com>]

Hmm, what am I missing here?  Why store search histories which are tied to
an IP address or a cookie value at all?
 
Richard
 
 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070723/tc_nm/privacy_microsoft_dc_1;_ylt=AsimFr
Fhpdw3_Fx3ZUZGICYE1vAI

By Eric Auchard 2 hours, 12 minutes ago 

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/finance/nm/tc_nm/storytext/privacy_microso
ft_dc/23837503/*http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=msft&d=t> MSFT -
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/biz/nm/tc_nm/storytext/privacy_microsoft_d
c/23837503/*http://biz.yahoo.com/n/m/msft.html> news) said on Sunday the
software maker was taking new steps to protect consumer privacy in the areas
of Web search and online advertising and called on the Internet industry to
support it. 

Microsoft said it was responding to public concern over the recent
consolidation of the online ad industry as well as stepped-up interest from
government regulators in its call for a comprehensive rather than piecemeal
approach to privacy.

"We think it's time for an industrywide dialogue," Peter Cullen, Microsoft's
chief privacy officer, said in an interview. "The current patchwork of
protections and how companies explain them is really confusing to
consumers."

Specifically, Microsoft said it would make all Web search query data
anonymous after 18 months on its "Live Search" service, unless it receives
user consent to store it longer. The policy changes are retroactive and
worldwide, it said.

Microsoft plans to store customer search data separately from data tied to
people, e-mail addresses or phone numbers and take steps to assure no
unauthorized correlation of these types of data can be made. It also will
permanently remove "cookie" user identification data, Web address? or other
identifiers.

"Microsoft is going to do a more thorough scrub of customer data once it is
too old," said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University who
served as U.S. privacy czar in the 1990s. "Previously, the practice was to
do a partial scrub."

As part of Microsoft's push,
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/nm/tc_nm/storytext/privacy_microsoft_dc/23
837503/SIG=10gl4k8il/*http://Ask.com> Ask.com, the Web search business of
Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq:
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/finance/nm/tc_nm/storytext/privacy_microso
ft_dc/23837503/*http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=iaci&d=t> IACI -
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/biz/nm/tc_nm/storytext/privacy_microsoft_d
c/23837503/*http://biz.yahoo.com/n/i/iaci.html> news), has agreed to join
Microsoft in calling for the industry to adopt a common set of privacy
practices for data collection, commercial use and consumer protection in
search and online advertising. Last week, it unveiled AskEraser, a service
that will allow Ask customers to change their privacy preferences at any
time.

Microsoft's initiatives follow recent moves by Google, the dominant provider
of Web searches and the company most under fire by privacy advocates
concerned at how rapid advances in search technology may pose unprecedented
threats to consumer privacy.

Google set in motion industry efforts to limit how long Web search data is
stored by being first to say it will in the future cleanse personal
information from its databases after 18 months. Microsoft is one-upping
Google by making its move retroactive.

Google has stepped up its own efforts to reach compromises with European
Union and U.S. policy-makers in recent months.

...

_______________________________________________
privacy mailing list
privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
http://www.whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/privacy