EU Privacy Regulators Target Offshore Search Engines

EU rules that someone must consent to their data being collected and give individuals the right to object or verify their information apply to search engines, the regulators' group said in a short statement as they prepare a full report due by April.

They also apply to companies headquartered outside the EU but have "an establishment" in one of the EU member states, or that use automated equipment based in a member state for processing personal data, the statement said.

Complying With Provisions

"Search engines fall under the EU data protection directive if there are controllers collecting users' IP addresses or search history information, and therefore have to comply with relevant provisions," said the group of national regulators from each EU nation, known as the "Article 29 Working Party."

The group did not give details on how this compliance would work. However, it did acknowledge that Internet search engines such as those run by Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) , Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) or Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) MSN now form part of "a daily routine for an ever-growing number of citizens."

Google said the statement didn't change its position and it is committed to working with privacy and consumer advocates as well as EU regulators to improve privacy online for all users.

"We look forward to seeing their report," it said of the Article 29 group.

Microsoft said companies should remove the IP address from saved information -- which would make it anonymous. Yahoo had no immediate comment.

Personal Information

Germany's data protection commissioner Peter Scharr, who has just stepped down as the head of the group, said last month that IP addresses, a string of numbers that identifies a computer, should generally be regarded as personal information.

Treating IP addresses as personal information would have implications for how search engines record the data they need to understand search patterns and correctly bill online advertisers for the number of times their ad is viewed.

Search engines have already gone some way toward responding to privacy concerns, led by Google, which was the first to cut the time it stored search information to 18 months.

Google's bid for online ad tracker DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK) is currently being reviewed by EU antitrust regulators amid complaints from rivals, advertisers and lawmakers and others worried the takeover will give the company too much power over online advertising and personal information.