A European Commission advisory body has introduced its opinion on the processing of the personal data of internet users by search engines. The recommendation has suggested that search engine providers must delete personal data collected about their users after six months, once they no longer serve the specified and legitimate purpose they were collected for. Currently most companies anonymise personal data after 18 months.
The recommendation is likely to be accepted by the European Commission and could lead to a clash with search giants like Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Many search engines currently collect and store information from each search query, holding information about the search query itself, the unique PC address (known as an IP number), and details about how a user makes their searches, such as the web browser that is being used.
Users who create an account with a search engine hand over more data to the firms, including search history. Some search engines also enrich personal data held on their users with information from third parties.
The report from the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party said search engine providers had “insufficiently explained” why they were storing and processing personal data to their users.
It said “search engine providers must delete or irreversibly anonymise personal data once they no longer serve the specified and legitimate purpose they were collected for”.

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