Ask.com Allows Users to Erase Search Queries

December 12, 2007

In a move to become more privacy-friendly, IAC’s Ask.com released its “AskErase” feature. AskErase, when enabled, will completely delete search queries and associated cookie information from Ask.com servers. This includes your IP addresses, user IDs, session IDs and the text of queries made. According to Ask, the deletion in most cases takes place within a few hours after a search is completed. This move comes on the heels of the changes in Google’s privacy policy, that will anonymize server logs after a limited period of time, and changes in the frequency in which cookies expire. Although, none of this information can be used to personally identify you, Ask.com is betting that enough people care about the extra privacy to make the switch.
Question: Do you care about search policy?

Bonus Video: Google Search Privacy: Plain and Simple

Category: News

Theo J.

That's a good move. The only thing is most people might not realize what Google is doing. I have the Google Pagerank toolbar installed, so search privacy isn't a big deal to me. As long as I can find what I want, it's all good. I may give ask.com a try.

markus

I agree Theo. Search privacy does not rank that high on my "concern list". To me its all about results, and right now Google has been delivering.