April 9, 2008 at 03:37EU wants to kill Big Brother in the bud
EU rules regarding privacy are much stricter than in the United States. Human rights activists of the Old World have once again proved that they will not allow the cyberpunk lawlessness that is possible if the search engines continue the total collection of personal information.
An ad hoc working group of the European Commission published a report from which it follows that major search engines, including Google, Yahoo and MSN, violate European laws on the protection of private data. They track the search history of individual users and store it from 18 months to infinity, while in Europe the maximum storage period for such information is limited to 6 months, after which they must either be deleted or anonymized (these are Data Protection Directive norms).
Human rights activists emphasize that the search history is “an imprint of the citizen’s personal interests, connections and intentions.” Moreover, such valuable information is easily accessible not only for advertisers, but also for special services and law enforcement agencies, which can lead to disastrous consequences for a person.
Google has already responded to EU requirements with an official clarification that it was the first among all search engines to have allegedly made search logs completely anonymous. Here, "Big Brother" is clearly misleading, because the entire "anonymous" search history of the user is available for viewing through his Google account, which is not anonymous.
An ad hoc working group of the European Commission published a report from which it follows that major search engines, including Google, Yahoo and MSN, violate European laws on the protection of private data. They track the search history of individual users and store it from 18 months to infinity, while in Europe the maximum storage period for such information is limited to 6 months, after which they must either be deleted or anonymized (these are Data Protection Directive norms).
Human rights activists emphasize that the search history is “an imprint of the citizen’s personal interests, connections and intentions.” Moreover, such valuable information is easily accessible not only for advertisers, but also for special services and law enforcement agencies, which can lead to disastrous consequences for a person.
Google has already responded to EU requirements with an official clarification that it was the first among all search engines to have allegedly made search logs completely anonymous. Here, "Big Brother" is clearly misleading, because the entire "anonymous" search history of the user is available for viewing through his Google account, which is not anonymous.