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Search Sites Unveil Privacy Plans
Klaidas sends us word of BBC coverage of action on privacy by the top four search sites. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Ask have introduced plans to reduce the data they store and how long they store it. From the article: "The rush to improve privacy policies was started by Google in March when it announced it would start deleting the final parts of the individual address it collects from each user's computer after 18 months... Microsoft is expected to make a similar announcement to separate the identifying address and other data from searches after 18 months. The information will be held for longer if users request it. Yahoo said it would delete identifying addresses and cookies after 13 months... Ask is taking the most radical step by unveiling plans for a tool called AskEraser which, it claims, will let people tune whether data is gathered about them on a search-by-search basis."
I certainly hope the AskEraser turns out to be solid as I would switch for good, but I'm prepared to be disappointed.
Internet begins with I, and I want to choose how long any of them would be able to save identifying data.
Well... at least 1 of the 4 got it right.
Hope is the currency of fools
Whom do you trust more - or less for that matter:
- Google
- Microsoft
- Yahoo
- Ask
(just kidding - they're probably all the same when it comes to those black SUV driving up)Buried as innacurate. Nobody uses Ask.com
1) You didn't have any then
2) You won't get any now
3) You'll never know if we keep your stuff or not
4) Just try and prove anything
5) You're a sucker if you believe we actually abide by some silly "privacy" policy
6) Hahahahaha...
What?
Ask is taking the most radical step by unveiling plans for a tool called AskEraser which, it claims, will let people tune whether data is gathered about them on a search-by-search basis."
AHA! But what happens to the logs from the AskEraser tool?
*runs for cover*
(Psst. Serious side note: with AT&T and others happily giving the NSA and others big fat listening tubes, who cares...about the end points? Besides, a 6 month retention policy gives Google plenty of time to do all sorts of analysis. They probably don't need *any* bits of your IP after a few days...)
Please help metamoderate.
"The information will be held for longer if users request it"
What world are they living on, exactly?
There will be no privacy until both the server and the client exchange practically all data in an encrypted format and the networks allow that to happen. Anything else is just PR.
I started using Clusty search engine http://clusty.com/ intially because of their privacy policy. I honestly thought, quite scepically, that it wouldn't be much good and within a few weeks I would end up going back to Google. That was one year ago. Fact is, Clusty is a superior search engine and I couldn't live without it now. It's the default search on all my browsers. Once you get the concept, that it clusters data into semantic groups, Google seems like a poor second.
So I presume that, in this new spirit of protecting personal privacy, governments will stop requiring ISPs to retain user data, reduce the number of unnecessary CCTV cameras, stop flaunting US wiretap laws, as well as passing some legislation that gives companies something more than a slap on the wrist for leaking millions of customer credit card records?
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
And switched to Ask. I dropped Verizon when the news broke about their data habits. People need to start voting with their feet. It's the only regulation we'll ever see of what these companies do.