Yahoo will keep search data for 18 months

INTERNET PORTAL Yahoo will extend the length of time it keeps search data to 18 months, bringing it in line with rivals and marking a significant backtrack on its privacy promises.

Yahoo previously kept search information for only 90 days after a decision in late 2008 to take the lead as the most privacy-conscious search engine. Now it rejoins Google and Microsoft, both of which keep search logs for 18 months.

Yahoo used to anonymise data after roughly three months by cutting out parts of users' IP addresses, altering cookies, and deleting other personal information that could lead to identification of a user. It's not certain if Yahoo will continue to do this after 18 months, but even if it does the move marks a six-fold increase in the time Yahoo will keep records on file.

More worryingly, Yahoo indicated that it might also keep other kinds of user information for longer periods.

"Yahoo is absolutely backtracking from what had been an industry-leading position," Erica Newland, a policy analyst at privacy watchdog group Center for Democracy & Technology, told Associated Press.

It's not entirely clear why Yahoo decided to reverse its earlier promises, but the deal last year with Microsoft to combine their search engine efforts might have had something to do with it. Since Bing operates on an 18-month cycle before deleting logs Microsoft might have asked Yahoo to fall in line if it's using its search algorithms. µ