Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Google Tweaks Cookie Policy

Depending on how you look at it, Google has either greatly shortened the time during which it records your search history data, or not done much at all. According to Wired's Threat Level, the time that Google saves cookie data for accounts that have not been active from more than twenty years to two.

If you haven't accessed Google from a browser for more than two years, the odds are you'll never be using it again, so that is a positive move for privacy. But as Threat Level reports, new users are still automatically having their search history tracked by default.

Google also keeps search queries in their log files (via IP addresses), so there is still a trail to be had. The best solution for respecting privacy is to encrypt all personally identifying information in files that can only be unlocked by a user's PC. The government may not like that, but a search warrant that includes home/work computer would still give access to the necessary information.

By John Gartner at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)

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