Google Data Retention Legal Issues
- Date: 2007-06-15 - Word Count: 411
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Google often touts its motto as "do no evil," but fails to follow through. The area of user privacy is one that Google is clearly abusing more than other companies, but is it all Google's fault?
Data retention. It sounds like a boring IT issue, but it is really a privacy issue. In cyber law terms, the discussion on data retention in relation to Google has to do with how long the search company is keeping a record of what you are doing on the web. Google retains the information so that it can allegedly determine better ways to provide search results and other information to make the search process better.
The problem, of course, is the database of information is very interesting to government entities that like to track what people are up to. In short, Google becomes Big Brother. In this case, however, Google is in a tough situation.
In Europe, the right of individual privacy is a closely guarded matter. The legal guidelines not only detail it, but also provide punitive penalties for violating a person's privacy. This applies on the web as well. In fact, the EU is not investigating Google for wholesale privacy violations. To try to appease the EU, Google has voluntarily agreed to cut data retention periods to 18 months. In human terms, this means Google will only keep a record of everything you have done for the last 18 months online.
A secondary problem, however, will soon arise for Google. Despite being touted as the "land of the free", the United States has a pathetic set of laws dealing with privacy. From the Patriot Act to no laws limiting data retention, one arguably should have no expectation of privacy when online. The government simply has no interest in protecting you from prying eyes, particularly its own! Herein lies the problem for Google. While the EU is demanding shorter retention times, the US is about to demand longer retention times. Specifically, the federal government will soon implement legislation requiring online search engines to retain 24 months of data on individual users.
So, what is Google to do? Probably nothing. It will most likely be joined by other search engines in demanding that the EU and US come to some agreed time period. What is more important is to realize that you are being watched on the web. Never assume anything you are doing is anonymous. It isn't.
Learn more about internet law at SanDiegoBusinessLawFirm.com.
Data retention. It sounds like a boring IT issue, but it is really a privacy issue. In cyber law terms, the discussion on data retention in relation to Google has to do with how long the search company is keeping a record of what you are doing on the web. Google retains the information so that it can allegedly determine better ways to provide search results and other information to make the search process better.
The problem, of course, is the database of information is very interesting to government entities that like to track what people are up to. In short, Google becomes Big Brother. In this case, however, Google is in a tough situation.
In Europe, the right of individual privacy is a closely guarded matter. The legal guidelines not only detail it, but also provide punitive penalties for violating a person's privacy. This applies on the web as well. In fact, the EU is not investigating Google for wholesale privacy violations. To try to appease the EU, Google has voluntarily agreed to cut data retention periods to 18 months. In human terms, this means Google will only keep a record of everything you have done for the last 18 months online.
A secondary problem, however, will soon arise for Google. Despite being touted as the "land of the free", the United States has a pathetic set of laws dealing with privacy. From the Patriot Act to no laws limiting data retention, one arguably should have no expectation of privacy when online. The government simply has no interest in protecting you from prying eyes, particularly its own! Herein lies the problem for Google. While the EU is demanding shorter retention times, the US is about to demand longer retention times. Specifically, the federal government will soon implement legislation requiring online search engines to retain 24 months of data on individual users.
So, what is Google to do? Probably nothing. It will most likely be joined by other search engines in demanding that the EU and US come to some agreed time period. What is more important is to realize that you are being watched on the web. Never assume anything you are doing is anonymous. It isn't.
Learn more about internet law at SanDiegoBusinessLawFirm.com.
Related Tags: google, data, us, law, retention, internet law, eu, privacy, lega
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