Google To Anonymize Server Logs
Google will soon blaze new trails to improve its privacy practices, the company told reporters in a background briefing on Wednesday. Unless legally required to retain server log data for longer, the search giant will anonymize them after 18-24 months, privacy counsel Peter Fleischer and deputy general counsel Nicole Wong announced on Google's corporate blog later in the day. Previously, the Web site kept the data "for as long as it was useful," they said.
The change followed talks with leading privacy stakeholders in the United States and Europe, they said. Google has recently incorporated other privacy features into its products (like Google Talk's “off the record” feature or Google Desktop’s “pause” and “lock search” controls), Fleischer and Wong said.
The new policy strikes the right balance between "continuing to improve Google’s services for you, while providing more transparency and certainty about our retention practices," they said. In the future, it is possible that data retention laws will obligate Internet firms to retain logs for longer periods, they added.
In a media fact sheet, Google emphasized that log anonymization "does not guarantee that the government will not be able to identify a specific computer or user" but it does add another layer of privacy protection to user data.
The anonymization will apply retroactively and Google engineers are working on a solution to allow users to opt-out of the practice. Officials said that the endeavor is a difficult one but Google hopes to have the program in operation "by the end of the year -- but it could take longer."
Update: The Center for Democracy and Technology's Ari Schwartz said the move was "a big step in the right direction." Privacy advocates have urged Google to take steps to safeguard the large amount of information it collects from billions of searches, he said.
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