Google taking steps to increase privacy

Google is going to do much more to alleviate concerns of privacy that have been expressed by privacy experts. Google generates an incredible amount of data on users web search habits; in the past, in an experiment, researches were able to conclusively identify people based on searches carried out by them (using their search terms, internet addresses and cookie information). This data is stored in the data centers maintained by Google spread around the world.

What will Google actually do ? For data that is stored for more than 18 to 24 months, Google will obscure the search logs that it carries on its servers such that user information is removed. In addition to this step, Google is also implementing this privacy policy in other applications, such as a feature in Google Talk that allows users to temporarily stop archiving messages, and a pause feature in Google Desktop that will stop the software from indexing the contents of a computer for desktop search.

Read the full story here.