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Microsoft says ready to cut time search data held

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-09 10:24

BRUSSELS  - Microsoft said Tuesday it was prepared to cut the amount of time it retains Internet users' search data to six months from 18 if other web giants also agreed to do so.

The European Union is piling pressure on Internet companies to reduce the amount of time they hold users' personal web searching data, saying in April that there was no basis for such information to be kept more than six months.

Microsoft's arch-rival Google said in September that it was halving the amount of time it keeps search data associated with a user's unique Internet address to nine months from 18 months currently.

"Microsoft evaluated the multiple uses of search data and is prepared to move to a six month timeframe," the US software giant said in a statement.

"To ensure people's privacy is protected broadly, while delivering benefits to consumers and enabling competition, it's important that all major search companies adopt the same high standards," it added.

However, Microsoft said that even more than the duration data is held was the way that search companies strip key information from data that allows a user to be identified.