Search Engines Compete On Accuracy, Privacy Policies

from the who-is-the-private-ist? dept

With Google taking some hits over its data retention practices, its competitors are hoping that they can use the privacy issue to their advantage. Microsoft, Yahoo and Ask have all updated or clarified their policies to give users more control over what data is kept and for how long. It's great to see that the search engines are responsive on this issue, but it's hard to imagine that these moves will have a big effect on the competitive landscape. Consumers express a preference for better privacy when asked about it in studies and surveys, but they often fail to put these preferences into practice when choosing products. Of course, even if users don't switch from one site to another, the net effect of this oneupmanship should result in better privacy, if these companies stick to their word.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: privacy, search
Companies: ask, google, microsoft, yahoo


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    insomniac, 23 Jul 2007 @ 8:27pm

    Thats a big if.... Mircosoft sticking to their word thats an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Kristiyan Kirchev, 24 Jul 2007 @ 5:14am

    And what guarantee there is, that those search engines will indeed erase user-data after the specific period of time? The way I see it, any search engine giant can promise you to delete your private search preferences information after a period of time, but there is no way for you to confirm that had happened. I mean there's no real way of control over what providers do with their gathered data once it sinks into their stadium-sized server rooms.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    %username, 24 Jul 2007 @ 5:55am

    We're talking about the privacy policy, that's all we have to go on when making a consumer decision, not an interal audit!

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.