Records warning for web giants

Brussels: Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! must limit the amount of time they keep internet-search records and can’t justify keeping the information beyond six months, European Union officials probing possible breaches of EU privacy laws said.

“The Working Party is not convinced by the justifications put forward” by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo for the longer storage periods, the so-called Article 29 Data Protection Working Party said in letters to the companies.

The group said it “strongly recommends” the companies revise their retention period to six months or less.