![\"bing_privacy\"](\"http:\/\/digitaldaily.allthingsd.com\/files\/2010\/01\/bing_privacy.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nGoogle has long claimed that the server log data it collects is a critical driver of innovation<\/a>. And though it\u2019s tweaked its treatment of that data and the length of time it stores it over the years to appease privacy advocates, it continues to collect IP addresses — though it anonymizes them after 9 months<\/a> (it used to do so only after 18-24 months).<\/p>\n But may soon change. And not because of any initiative on Google\u2019s (GOOG) part, but because of one of Microsoft\u2019s<\/a> (MSFT).<\/p>\n Responding to Article 29 Working Party guidelines<\/a> for protecting users’ personal data online, Microsoft this morning said its new search engine Bing will purge all the data it collects on users after six months. Not anonymize, purge<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cToday we sent a letter to the Article 29 Working Party notifying them of our intention to make a change to Bing\u2019s data retention policy,\u201d Bing Privacy Manager Reese Solberg wrote in a post to the Bing blog<\/a>. \u201cSpecifically, we are reducing the amount of time we store IP addresses from searchers to 6 months.\u00a0 Currently we keep that information for 18 months before we delete it.\u00a0 Generally, when Bing receives search data we do a few things: first, we take steps to separate your account information (such as email or phone number) from other information (what the query was, for example). Then, after 18 months we take the additional step of deleting the IP address and any other cross session IDs associated with the query. Under the new policy, we will continue to take all the steps we applied previously \u2013 but now we will remove the IP address completely at 6 months, instead of 18 months.\u201d<\/p>\n Microsoft\u2019s move leaves Google in an uncomfortable position of being far less a friend to privacy than Microsoft. And hard as the company might argue in favor of storing user data, it will likely have to match Microsoft\u2019s position. Difficult to claim that server log data is \u201ca crucial arm in the battle to protect the security of our services against hacks and fraud,\u201d when a prominent rival is essentially claiming exactly the opposite.<\/p>\n Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n