Google accelerates IP anonymization
Thrax
🐌Austin, TX Icrontian
Google has grown an empire on the mastery of information. Part of their expertise in search and advertising stems from the extensive relationship between customer IP addresses and searches on their popular search engine. In the past, the IP addresses were anonymized after 18 months, but recent EU pressure has reduced that timeline to just nine months.
Google maintains that demographic information gleaned by linking IP addresses to past searches is used to fight spam and comply with law enforcement agencies. When 18 months has elapsed, the data is anonymized and the IP addresses are no longer linked to the searches. Google claims that this methodology has helped prevent fraud, bolster the effectiveness of their business offerings and resolve crime.
After a letter from the Article 29 Working Body -- an EU council for privacy -- Google agreed to scrub the relationships after just nine months. Google's Global Privacy Council Peter Fleischer noted that finding a balance between business and privacy was difficult. "Finding the right balance between data retention and privacy is a tough issue for policymakers, Google and our industry," he said. Fleischer added that the change to nine months of retention was to "address regulatory concerns and to take another step to improve privacy for users."
Google hopes that the change will ease privacy concerns while permitting Google to further grow their acclaimed suite of offerings and the accuracy of their search results.
Google maintains that demographic information gleaned by linking IP addresses to past searches is used to fight spam and comply with law enforcement agencies. When 18 months has elapsed, the data is anonymized and the IP addresses are no longer linked to the searches. Google claims that this methodology has helped prevent fraud, bolster the effectiveness of their business offerings and resolve crime.
After a letter from the Article 29 Working Body -- an EU council for privacy -- Google agreed to scrub the relationships after just nine months. Google's Global Privacy Council Peter Fleischer noted that finding a balance between business and privacy was difficult. "Finding the right balance between data retention and privacy is a tough issue for policymakers, Google and our industry," he said. Fleischer added that the change to nine months of retention was to "address regulatory concerns and to take another step to improve privacy for users."
Google hopes that the change will ease privacy concerns while permitting Google to further grow their acclaimed suite of offerings and the accuracy of their search results.
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