Microsoft has fired a new salvo into the search privacy wars, announcing it will delete IP addresses from the Bing search engine logs after 6 months. Microsoft has decided to take the lead in search privacy and agree to the European Union’s demand that data retention be cut to six months. Previously, Microsoft de-identified its search logs immediately, but didn’t purge the IP address until 18 months. Now, de-identification still takes place immediately, and the IP addresses are completely removed in 6 months.
Tag: Microsoft
Global Network Initiative Promises to Protect Privacy and Freedom of Expression Online
A collection of information and communication companies, advocacy groups, and academic centers have announced the formation of the Global Network Initiative, aimed at protecting free expression and privacy on the Internet on a global scale. From the announcement: In an…
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Catching Up – Link Dump
I’ve been ridiculously busy lately, and need to quickly catch up on some recent items of note: Scientific American has a nice special issue dedicated to "the future of privacy." Nothing new here for most privacy scholars, but it is…
More (Limited) Peeks into Google Health
Google has provided some more information about their beta eHealth product, including this claim regarding privacy and security: Privacy and Security - Due to the sensitive and personal nature of the data that will be stored in Google Health, we…
More Designing for Privacy: Microsoft HealthVault
Similar to my recent probes and interactions with the designers of the social networking site Moli, I recently enjoyed the opportunity to discuss privacy-related design issues with the product manager for Microsoft's HealthVault platform. HealthVault is Microsoft's attempt to provide…
Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Bid for Yahoo
Breaking news that could shake up the search industry, as well as having broader implications for concentration of user data (if we can convince the FTC of the connections between antitrust and privacy wrt online businesses rely on user data…
CNet: How Search Engines Rate on Privacy
I'm under deadline pressure currently, so very quickly: Declan McCullagh and Elinor Mills at CNet have surveyed the major search engine providers about their privacy practices related to retention of user data and behavioral targeting. Full story here, and the…
Web-search privacy efforts move to forefront
The title of this post is the headline from a story in today's Wall Street Journal (non-firewall version here), detailing how the largest web search engines are starting to make changes to how they handle the data collected from their…
Microsoft Seeks to Use Application and Hard Drive Data to Sell Ads
Taking contextual advertising to the next logical level, it has been reported that a recent patent filing indicates Microsoft want to develop an advertising framework that uses applications and data on one's computer, rather than one's actions on the Web,…
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MSFT Wants To Identify All Web Surfers Based on Surfing Habits
Not wanting to be outdone by Google's recent news about profiling users based on their psychological profiles, reports have emerged that Microsoft is developing new technologies to identify users based on their browsing habits: IF YOU thought you could protect…
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