December 18, 2008

Yahoo Adopts New Search Engine Retention Policy

Yahoo announced that, after 90 days, it will obscure some elements in the records that it keeps about all Internet users who use the company's services. The search company will continue to keep modified record locators, time/date stamps, web pages viewed, and a persistent user identifier, known as a "cookie" for an indefinite period. Yahoo is also retaining much of the IP address, which typically identifies a user's device, such as a laptop or a mobile phone. Privacy rules classify IP addresses as "personal data." Experts have criticized the partial deletion of IP address data as insufficient to protect search engine consumers, and called for complete deletion.

Yahool Limits Retention of Personal Data, New York Times, December 18, 2008