Google Never Forgets

downsize writes "CNN.com is running an article that provides some insight into how long Google stores our search, email and overall web activity and posits that it 'could prove a tempting target for abuse.' From the article: 'Some don't see Google's long memory as a bad thing. Weinstein doesn't think so. "There's really no good reason to hold onto that information for more than a few months," he said. "They seem to think that because their motives are pure that everything is OK and they can operate on a trust basis. History tells us that is not the case."' In regards to Google's email service, Gmail, Google may find themselves with many upset users due to 'a 1986 law [that] gives less protection from government searches to messages more than six months old...Even when a user deletes a message it may remain on company servers, according to the Gmail privacy policy.' Same goes for POP mail, just because you download it off the server, it's not 'out of Google's long memory'."

Comments

Try deleting your gmail trashcan ..

[RedLaggedTeut]

It can take pretty long to delete all the stuff that you decided not to read or keep, because you can only delete 50 at a time. And then, when the trash can is empty, they tell you that you don't need to delete. Maybe that is true, but some stuff I just don't want or need anymore.