AskEraser from Ask.com
Due Credit:
TechRepublic
Search engines are the workhorses of the internet. But in the search for relevance, most engines keep a log of user activity and search. There have been several privacy concerns relating to these but the rules are very gray.
Now, Ask.com, a search engine that occupies about 5% of the search engine market has come out with a solution that it hopes will lure people to use the engine more frequently. With a feature called AskEraser, users get to delete their search history from the servers with a guarantee that the data will get erased is a matter of hours. Google has a policy to retain customer search information for 18 months while Yahoo and Microsoft retain search data for 13 months.
Of course, relevancy does not always mean that the user data has to be logged. The new move from Ask.com may be a precursor to further features from other search engines. But as long as a major engine makes no privacy friendly action like this, no industry wide standard can be expected.
Now, Ask.com, a search engine that occupies about 5% of the search engine market has come out with a solution that it hopes will lure people to use the engine more frequently. With a feature called AskEraser, users get to delete their search history from the servers with a guarantee that the data will get erased is a matter of hours. Google has a policy to retain customer search information for 18 months while Yahoo and Microsoft retain search data for 13 months.
Of course, relevancy does not always mean that the user data has to be logged. The new move from Ask.com may be a precursor to further features from other search engines. But as long as a major engine makes no privacy friendly action like this, no industry wide standard can be expected.
