Google will increase search privacy and will not permanently retain the complete IP address

Google decided to change the data retention practices. In the future, the data retained will make it harder to identify which computers have searched for the data.
Google's server will automatically record all users' search information, including the keywords, IP addresses, and browser cookies searched by netizens. Cookies can be used to identify users and record users' preferences and habits.
Google's current practice is to retain search data files indefinitely, and in the new policy published recently (Googe is expected to be fully deployed by the end of the year), 18 to 24 months later, google will anonymize the last eight IP addresses and cookie data, but if the law otherwise requires that the IP address be retained for a longer period of time, this limit will not apply. Some specific search information will be retained permanently, but it will be difficult for outsiders to lock a specific person or computer from the data.
"Anonymizing log records does not mean that the government will not be able to trace computers or users later, but at least this will allow more protection of user data ." Google.
This new policy applies to new Web search data in the future and old file records that were previously retained. Users can also choose to exit this practice and require that their search data be permanently retained.
According to the privacy protection group, Google's practice is in the correct direction, but it is still not done enough to completely protect netizens from harassment by law enforcement agencies in the United States. They believe that as long as these search history records are retained, the investigation unit and the government can find various personal information.
"Google's new proposal is not good enough. The Reservation period is too long and it is not completely destroyed. It only removes the identifiable personal information from the data, but this should be done within 18-24 hours, instead of being removed for dozens or 20 months ." Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the US Electronic Privacy Information Center, said.
Richard M. Smith, consultant for Boston software authentication, said Google should not keep its IP addresses and cookies on its servers. "Google is not a spy. The IP addresses they keep and the search string are the world's largest intelligence collection unit ."
After the last eight IP addresses are anonymized, the investigators can still use the IP addresses to narrow down the user targets of 256 computers. This is the same as removing the last number of the House address.
Kevin Bankston, a lawyer at the US electronic front-line Foundation, said he hoped Google would remove all IP address data six months later, but he thought Google had at least taken the right step.
"We hope that other online service providers can handle this problem as much as possible to minimize the amount of customer data they have stored ." Bankston.
Yahoo and Microsoft are reluctant to disclose their retention policies for network search data. AOL indicates that it will be retained for 30 days, and then encrypted.