According to the New York Times Microsoft have offered to reduce the length of time it keeps records of web searches if Yahoo and Google do the same. The offer was instigated after a request from the European Privacy Panel.

Microsoft currently retain data for 18months and Yahoo for 13months whereas Google opt for 9 Months.

How exactly though do the search engines make such data “untraceable” and is it indeed within there interests to do so ? In addition, no Search engine is willing to act on their own to change the current data retention periods.

Personally I like the innovations Microsoft have put into Live recently, but which Search Engine do your client’s focus on…