:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 12.18.2008 ::
:: "Yahoo's Data Retention Move Puts Pressure on Google, Microsoft" ::
By Clint Boulton
from eWeek's Google Watch
Some readers chimed in regarding my position that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft seemed headed for zero retention policies in 2009, my response to Yahoo's reduction of storing users' search records from 13 months to 3 months.
As I noted in a response to a comment, I managed to speak to Microsoft privacy strategy honcho Brendon Lynch last night.
I asked him what he thought of Yahoo's move, which came just weeks after Microsoft agreed that 6 months is a fair duration so long as Google and Yahoo agree to that timeframe.
He replied that search engines do an amount of data to run their search engines, so a zero amount is not feasible, and reiterated Microsoft' call for some standardization around a 6-month retention period and strong anonymization methods.
Eh. Take from that what you will. Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have to be careful about what they say heading into the major February meeting with the European Commission's data retention party.
I believe that Microsoft and Google are privately furious at Yahoo for lowering the bar to 3 months. Microsoft is at 18 months, Google at 9 months. Yahoo's move will increase pressure on Google and Microsoft to lower their retention periods, perhaps even before they meet with the EC party next year. How long before Google and Microsoft lower their timeframes?
Three months worth of user data, as I noted yesterday, might as well be no months. We can debate that all day, but what I really wanted to do was spotlight some salient reader comments, which you can peruse here. I pull out my favorites in this post.
Wrote Barry about why Yahoo would pull such a drastic move:
I see this move primarily as a stop-gap strategy for Yahoo, who is still casting about for an identity in an increasingly crowded market space. None the less, it's a smart move. Privacy laws eventually will catch up to these companies and they will be required to change their data retention policies anyway. Might as well score some goodwill brownie points in the process.
I'm right there with you, Barry. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft can only stall for so long. Let's hope they're figuring out less intrusive ways to offer their search services without letting the quality suffer.
Read more here.
posted by me
:: 5:21:00 PM [+] ::
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