Google Will Not Keep Your Personal Info Forever

Google has announced that they are starting to anonymize their server logs, removing user’s personal info after 18-24 months. Google says this is an important step towards safeguarding user’s privacy, and while it is better than doing nothing, is it really all that helpful?
If Google had stayed with their old system (which we can now assume kept data indefinitely), then what’s the difference? Anyone trying to legally obtain your personal data would probably be more interested in the recent stuff, not searches from three years ago. Now, getting rid of the older stuff allows users a clean slate, but not anonymity. If the last 18-24 months of user data is available, that is just as much a privacy violation as user data that is over 18-24 months old!
In fact, anonymizing old user data protects only those who break the law. The innocent will be […]

Original post by Nathan Weinberg