Google offers to cut user data files to appease Eurocrats

SEARCH GIANT GOOGLE is planning to scale back the amount data it holds on its users in an effort to reach a compromise with the European Union.

Google had originally planned to store data on search users for an 18- to 24-month period. But, to go along with EU guidelines, the company is now planning to keep data for a maximum of, um, 18 months, reports Yahoo.

Peter Fleischer of Google is confident that the new proposal will suit the company's strategy while also addressing the concerns of Brussels' Data Protection Working Party: "We believe that we can still address our legitimate interests in security, innovation and anti-fraud efforts with this shorter period," he said.

Google was panned earlier by a privacy group, Privacy International, which found that Google was the biggest threat to users' privacy on the whole Interweb.

"Throughout our research we have found numerous deficiencies and hostilities in Google's approach to privacy that go well beyond those of other organisations," it noted.

It ranked Google bottom of the pile, "due to its aggressive use of invasive or potentially invasive technologies and techniques."

Google reacted by smearing Privacy International, the latter claimed.

Fleischer and Co. are also looking into ways to redesign cookies and to reduce their expiration in order to satisfy another concern of the Working Party. An official announcement should be out in the near future, he said.

It's not only the EU that Google has to reason with, though: the U.S. Department of Justice is asking the giant to retain private information for a 24 month period, deemed a necessity following corporate reforms popping up after the Enron scandal.

The EU is asking Google for clarification on the matter before the next meeting which will take place this month. µ