Search engines - IP addresses

Whilst the issue of data retention of search log data has been the subject of much discussion, notwithstanding the Art. 29 Working Party's opinion, that the Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC does not apply to search engines, yet the retention policies of search engines continues to be a discussion point:

Google - 9 months retention policy

Yahoo - 3 months

Ixquick - 48 hours (as of 28/1/09 - no IP addresses are not stored)

Ixquick appears to be the preferred search engine for its retention policy, having been awarded the European Privacy Seal - whether other search engines will reduce their retention policy remains to be seen.

See also:

• EU Law Blog