Internet search engines

For more than a year, European data privacy officials have been battling with U.S.-based Internet search engines, trying to get them to conform to European restrictions on the storage of personal information gleaned from the Web.

Now, as the U.S. titans Google, Microsoft and Yahoo continue to retain personal data beyond the six-month time limit established this year by the European Commission, regulators say their patience is running thin.

In response to a European Union report that suggests search engines should limit data retention to six months, Google on Monday defended its policy of storing data on search-engine usage for up to 18 months.

European Commission's Article 29 Data Protection Working Party called for increased protections for users, including user notification, and issued a warning to Internet search engines: Failing to protect consumer's personal information could be unlawful.