Microsoft offers to cut search-data retention time
Published: 09 Dec 2008 13:39 GMT
Microsoft has told European authorities it is prepared to cut the time it holds users' search data from 18 months to six, if all search companies will follow suit.
The company made its announcement on Tuesday, as a response to pressure from the European Commission's data protection advisory group, the Article 29 Working Party. The group recommended the data-retention cut in April.
"We've evaluated the multiple uses of search data and believe that we can, in time, move to a six-month timeframe while retaining our strong method of anonymisation," John Vassallo, Microsoft's vice president of EU affairs, said in a statement.
Search companies keep the IP addresses of their users for a period before making them anonymous. Before that, the information is used alongside other data, such as search queries, to improve relevance of search results and target advertising to the user, among other reasons.
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"Ultimately, the search engine that has access to the most data is able to improve the relevance of its search results, which provides more consumer value and gives the company a competitive advantage," Vassallo said.
Microsoft said it would make the change only if other search companies also cut the time they retain data, prior to anonymisation.
"What we've done since April is evaluate the multiple uses of search data to ascertain if we can, in time, move to a six-month timeframe," Peter Cullen, Microsoft's chief privacy strategist, said in the statement. "Our answer is yes, we can, but we don't believe it makes sense for us to make this change until our competitors also commit to meeting this higher standard with respect to both the method and timeframe for anonymisation."
Rival search and advertising company Google announced in September it was halving its data-retention period, from 18 months to nine. However, Microsoft said Google would need to reduce that period to six months to overcome "competitive challenges".
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