Legal Research

Yahoo To Anonymize Data After 90 Days

Yahoo has announced a new anonymizing policy — by mid-2010 they’ll begin scrubbing search logs after 90 days.  According to the NY Times:

“Under Yahoo’s new policy, the company will strip out portions of users’ IP addresses, alter small tracking files known as ”cookies” and delete other potential personally identifiable information after 90 days in most cases. In cases involving fraud and data security, the company will anonymize the data after six months.  [Yahoo] also said it will expand the scope of data that it anonymizes to encompass not only search engine logs, but also page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks.  That information is used to personalize online content and advertising.”

Back in September, Google announced that they will begin to anonymize data after 9 months.  (They’re not up to speed with that yet, however.)  Why are search engines trying to one-up each other over anonymization?  Simple: they want to avoid scrutiny by lawmakers here and in Europe.  It’s better (and less painful) to regulate yourself than have someone do it for you.

Full post as published by Jenkins Webblits on December 18, 2008 (boomark / email).