14 DAY TRIAL // The search giant Google seems to be involved in a problem without any end as it struggles to improve its privacy guidelines but, instead of praises from the European Union, it receives only other requirements. As you might have heard, Google recently announced that it will remove users' cookies after two years since their last login. Although it expected to be at least praised by the European representatives, Google was required to do even more than that. Alexander Dix, security and privacy representative of Berlin, said for ZDNet UK that he's not sure that those are all Google's efforts over this matter.
"It's certainly an improvement, but we will have to discuss whether this is enough. It's a good thing that Google has addressed the question of a cookie time limit. People can influence cookies by configuring their browser--they can just accept one session. Users have more choice than with their log profiles," Alexander Dix said for ZDNet.
Obviously, the Mountain View company was compared with its rivals Yahoo and Microsoft, two companies that didn't discuss so much about this privacy matter.
"Our policies reflect the fact that our users' trust is one of Yahoo's most valuable assets. Maintaining that trust and protecting our users' privacy is paramount to us. Our data retention practices vary according to the diverse nature of our services. We don't break out that information currently as we view it to be commercially sensitive," a Yahoo representative said for the same source.
"We only keep data as long as is required by law and is useful for our business purposes. In some cases, that is as short (a period) as a few weeks. This data is used to benefit our users in many ways. That includes protection against fraud, personalized content, product innovations based on what we learn about how users interact with our site, and best-in-class free services paid for by targeted advertising."