Microsoft To Delete Bing IP Data After 6 Months

adeelarshad82 writes "Bowing to pressure from the EU, Microsoft said it would discard all data collected via its Bing search engine after six months. (Microsoft's announcement contains a timeline for what data gets anonymized or deleted when.) Until now, the software giant has retained the data for 18 months. Over the past two years, however, Internet companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google have made efforts to reduce the amount of time that information is stored. Microsoft's policies will remain the same, but now, the company will delete the IP address and other info after six months. Back in December 2008, Microsoft said it would reduce its retention time to six months, but only if its rivals followed suit. At the time, Yahoo anonymized its data after 13 months, and Google did the same after 9 months. A week later, Yahoo cut that time down to three months, but Google said its decisions are not conditioned on what competitors do."

Comments

Privacy

[sopssa]

After Google's CEO's comments about privacy is only wanted by wrongdoers and their massive influence all over the internet, mobile phones and soon desktop I'm starting to think Bing might be better. Like the summary states, Google says its decisions "aren't conditioned on what competitors do" and they want to do what they want. Seems like they got huge and got piss in their head.

When credit is due, I have to give it. Bing is done correctly, and Google seems like the falling star it once was. We want privacy - give it to us.

Re:Privacy

[Uranium-238]

One of my professors last semestor asked us a similar question: "Do you want your DNA to be stored indefinitely on a national database?" To which I said good lord no! I was then asked what I have or might have to hide in the future and I said nothing, merely my privacy and my genetic code. I added as a joke Enjoy the terrorists making bio weapons tailored to your DNA.

Re:Privacy

[negRo_slim]

We want privacy - give it to us.

Who is this we you speak of? Your average internet user really doesn't seem to give a damn as long as they can get what they want quickly and easily. Just look at the success of some of these games on social networking sites. Like Mafia Wars for instance; basically nothing more than a database with a shitty HTML front end that offers no real game play or player interactions yet people eat it up, allowing companies like Zynga to scrap profile data or serve them "customer surveys" or "trail offers" and "free products"... People fill that crap out trading their privacy for an increase in an arbitrary value in some shitty "app".

Re:Privacy

[dedazo]

by Uranium-238

[...] national database [...] lord [...] genetic code. [...] terrorists [...] bio weapons [...] DNA

This is the NSA. Please put down the donut and remain at your desk until the nice officers arrive.

Re:Privacy

[Enderandrew]

Microsoft handed over search data without being forced to do so.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177102061

Google was the only major search engine to fight to protect your privacy.

Google also fought court orders in Brazil to protect privacy for their Orkut users.

I can understand the logic of a statement that only criminals have something to hide, but in practice, Google has done more to protect your privacy than Microsoft. That is just comparing them as search companies. I won't even get into Windows and Microsoft products "phoning home" without telling you, and the latest rumors that Microsoft included a backdoor in Windows 7 for the NSA.

Re:Privacy

[Frater 219]

After Google's CEO's comments about privacy is only wanted by wrongdoers

Except, of course, that he never said that. He was asked in an interview whether users should consider Google as a "trusted friend" -- and he said no. He said that if you're doing something that you don't want anyone to know about, doing it on Google is a bad idea ... since Google is just as subject to U.S. law, including the USA PATRIOT Act, as any other company is.

He didn't say that only wrongdoers want privacy and that everyone should trust Google. He said that if you want perfect privacy, you can't get it from Google, because the law doesn't allow it. That's pretty much the opposite!

Re:Privacy

[olden]

According to PCWorld and others, Eric Schmidt said: (my emphasis)

"I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place, but if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines including Google do retain this information for some time, and it's important, for example that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities."

Sorry, this does sound to me like one of those despicable and horribly misguided "if you have nothing to hide, why would you want privacy?" line.
I like Bruce Schneier's answer.

Hah

[dedazo]

Google won't follow suit? The difference here is that Bing is a loss leader for Microsoft. People want more privacy? No problem sez Microsoft, whatever. It's not like they live off the data they mine from their search engine users (which last I heard was something like 4% of the total in the US).

For Google, government-mandated privacy regulations can really hurt the bottom line. That data and how long they can hold on to it is essentially their business model.

I actually wouldn't be surprised to see Microsoft become a champion of consumer privacy on the Internet later on... you know, for the children.

Re:Selective privacy

[Enderandrew]

Normally I'm not one to bother responding to ACs, but what in the hell are you talking about?

Yahoo handed over Chinese bloggers.

Google has only handed over private info on their users once and that was after REPEATED court orders. They didn't even comply with the first order from a judge.

The info they eventually handed over was a ring of users sharing child pornography on Orkut.

I've literally had this exact same conversation several times on Slashdot before, and not once has anyone provided a single ounce of proof that Google hands over your private data, save for that one instance.