Fergie's Tech Blog

Google Changes Cookie Policy But Privacy Effect is Small

Ryan Singel writes on Threat Level:

Google is modifying how it keeps track of users via cookies, by setting cookies to expire in two years if a user doesn't return and auto-extending cookie length for active users, according to a policy change announced by Google's Global Policy Counsel Peter Fleischer on Monday. Currently Google sets their cookies to expire sometime in the 2030s, a time period which Fleischer said was chosen to keep users from losing preferences such as how many search results to see on a page at a random time.

In reality, the change doesn't make much of a difference. People who go two years between Google searches on a given browser will have their old queries de-linked from their new ones. Google users who do not occasionally destroy their cookies will continue to have their entire search history recorded for posterity and potential subpoenas.

More here.

Note: I post this because I'm sick of people saying this is a major privacy "win"... it is not.

posted by Fergie @ 7/17/2007 05:33:00 PM