Google On the Run From the Privacy Cops

TechCrunch - Amid growing scrutiny from government regulators in the U.S and Europe, Google is amending its privacy practices and keeping the IP addresses of consumers who do searches on Google for a shorter period of time. The dominant search engine will keep server log data for only nine months now instead of 18 (which itself was a reduction put in place last year from an indefinite retention period). It will also start anonymizing the data it collects from its Google Suggest feature within 24 hours. (This is a growing trend—last month, Google made it easier to opt out of ad tracking). As Google grows bigger and reaches deeper into the online lives of nearly everybody who uses the Web, concerns about whether it is becoming Big Brother will also increase.

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