Search engines should be more open about storage of consumer information

Search engines need to have a "more transparent" policy with regards to the information that they derive from users and why they store it.

That is the opinion of Get Safe Online, which has asserted that people have a right to know whether companies such as Google and Yahoo! are looking at their emails and what they are doing online.

According to managing director Tony Neate, this will help consumers to make a more informed and more personal decision as to whether they should change to a new search engine.

He explained: "If you go with a provider that gives you free email, free internet access and free web space then that´s fine and as long as they tell you that they´re going to be looking at the emails you send and what you´re doing then you can make a personal choice.

"It´s about informing and educating and then we can make that appropriate decision as to whether we´re going to go down that road and use that particular system for sending emails or storing data."

A recently published EU report into retaining web data said that there is no reason for search engines to keep user´s personal information for more than six months.
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