EU asks Google to explain its privacy policy

EU asks Google to explain its privacy policy
The European Union has told Google that the company's decision to store people's search information for a period of two years is against European privacy laws and has asked the search engine giant to explain its policy to the panel.

The EU data protection advisory groups have shot off a letter to Google, stating that a two year storage period was too long in their opinion. A spokeswoman for Google confirmed that the company has received such a letter. "The concern is about keeping information about people's search for a definite period of time ranging from 18 to 24 months. They (the Article 29 working party) believe it is too long", she said.

Google said that the EU's concern was reasonable and revealed that it had raised the issue with EU officials in March. The company said that it will be taking steps to shorten the storage period.

Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel said that the search engine giant will be taking up the matter with EU officials, pointing out that such retentions periods is necessary to keep track of hackers and Internet advertising fraud, apart from improving Google's search algorithm.

"There can be reasonable arguments for and against keeping server logs for this length of time. But we believe that between 18 and 24 months is a reasonable length of time to balance privacy issues with business concerns", Fleischer said.

Google's main aim of storing users' search information is to get acquainted with specific user habits on the internet and to provide tailor-made services, which it believes will further improve the functioning of its search engine.