14 DAY TRIAL // When a user searches the Internet using Google's search technology, the company records the search query, the IP address and the cookie details generated by the search action. In the past, Google kept the logs with all the information as long as it was useful but the company's official announced today a major change in the privacy policy regarding the user's details. The company will continue to store the logs for security reasons but will remove sensitive information after 18-24 months since the recording date. Google aims to modify certain bits in the IP address and the cookie details provided by the search query that will make it more difficult to identify the user.
"After talking with leading privacy stakeholders in Europe and the U.S., we're pleased to be taking this important step toward protecting your privacy. By anonymizing our server logs after 18-24 months, we think we're striking the right balance between two goals: continuing to improve Google's services for you, while providing more transparency and certainty about our retention practices," Peter Fleischer, Privacy Counsel-Europe, and Nicole Wong, Deputy General Counsel, sustained in a blog post published today.
As you might know, certain countries might release special laws that will be able to force Google to keep the logs much longer than the period mentioned by the company so the decision may be a little useless in some cases. The Governments in multiple countries have the right to issue new laws able to enforce the communication companies to store the information concerning the users for a period of between 6 months to 2 years.
At this time, there are some Google products that allow its users to view information from the past such as Google Search History. The company sustained the services will continue to run because they are based only on the clients' options able to decide if the search history can harm their privacy or not.