Slashdot pointed me (indirectly) to an interesting article at Tyme Tech about "the Big Four" search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL) and the data they collect on the people using their services.  Elise Ackerman has compiled an excellent overview of the practices involved in the retention, use, and possible legal ramifications of search data collected by Internet companies.

The more precisely Internet companies can match a user with an ad, the more money they stand to make. Hence the drive to amass personal information by the gigabyte.

Experts say the concentration of personal data kept by the biggest Internet companies is unprecedented — and potentially dangerous.

"Imagine that your life is recorded in such a way that never happened in the history of mankind and that information can be discovered in the course of litigation,'' said John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

None of the Big Four would respond to questions about the nature or number times they have provided a user's information to a third-party.

The fact that search engines retain this information is nothing new.  As Ackerman points out, they use that information to build better advertising platforms.  Those advertising platforms, in turn, make them more money.

But the article also raises several interesting questions about the current and future use of that information:

According to an analysis done by the Electronic Frontier Foundation of the AOL data, 106 users typed in what appeared to be Social Security numbers. More than 3,700 users typed in what appeared to be phone numbers, while more than 4,000 users entered what appeared to be a street address.

[…]"Search logs are quite possibly the single most revealing record that we've ever had ability to create,'' Bankston said. "They're practically a printout of the goings on in your brain.''

What would a lawyer, judge, or other legal representative find out about you by analyzing your search logs?  What would we all find out if those logs were ever published, either intentionally or by mistake.

The article references the AOL incident in which thousands of search records were published.  As the Internet grows, and more people search, those search records could be easily become prime targets for cyber criminals or even terrorists.  Imagine the information available in just one gigabyte of Google, Yahoo, MSN, or AOL's search records?

According to Ackerman, some have called on Congress to step in and add some regulation to the information.  While I'm not a big fan of the government entering into any matters that involve the Internet, I can honestly understand the concern some might have.  We've known for years that "Big Brother" records and keeps information.  Some have even suggested that Google in particular has worked with government agencies to compile profiles on specific people.

Hype and scare-mongering?  Perhaps.  But feasible?  Completely!

So what do you think?  Should search data be regulated by the federal government?  I personally enjoy a government that stays out of things.  But at the same time, I like companies with hordes of data on me to be at least monitored.  So I'm torn.

Other than the typical "government is bad" and "government should stay out of our lives" arguments that are used for just about every debate, what do you think?  Is government regulation needed?  Is search data important enough to warrant Big Brother's intervention?  Would you like to see Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL sitting in front of a Congressional panel?

Or should we trust "the Big Four" to protect us?  I really don't know.