Google Snips Cookie Lifespan for Privacy
18 Jul, 2007, 2:30 pm IST | by
Priyanka Pradhan
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In a move that has surprised critics, Google has promised to cut down on the amount of private data it collects about web users, by reducing the lifetime of 'cookies' installed on the computers of Google users. A post in the official Google blog says, "We are committed to an ongoing process to improve our privacy practices, and have recently taken a closer look at the question of cookie privacy. How long should a web site 'remember' cookie information in its logs after a user's visit? And when should a cookie expire on your computer? Cookie privacy is both a server and a client issue." Cookies are essentially small files stored on a computer so that it can be recognized when a particular user revisits websites, enabling the site to remember the user's preferences for things like e-commerce and sites that require log-in. Google previously designed its cookies to expire in 2038 but now, according to the new policy, the cookies will expire after every two years. The blog stated, "In the coming months, Google will start issuing our users cookies that will be set to auto-expire after 2 years, while auto-renewing the cookies of active users during this time period. In other words, users who do not return to Google will have their cookies auto-expire after 2 years. Regular Google users will have their cookies auto-renew, so that their preferences are not lost. And, as always, all users will still be able to control their cookies at any time via their browsers." The move comes after Google received flak from the European Union's data-protection agency and other organizations, for retaining user information for too long. The blog said, "After listening to feedback from our users and from privacy advocates, we've concluded that it would be a good thing for privacy to significantly shorten the lifetime of our cookies - as long as we could find a way to do so without artificially forcing users to re-enter their basic preferences at arbitrary points in time. And this is why we’re announcing a new cookie policy." |
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