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Internet search companies have been forced to look over their data retention policies because of high-profile data losses and EU pressure, it is claimed.

Ian Brown, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, comments that people are wondering whether they can trust companies with their personal information.

Companies are having to act in the wake of bad publicity and legal pressure coming from the EU, Mr Brown says.

He explains that "the European Union's Data Protection Authority have been putting a lot of pressure on search engines to reduce the amount of data that they are holding".

Mr Brown adds that one of the most efficient ways of keeping data safe is to store it for a shorter period of time or to not collect it at all.

His comments come after Yahoo! recently announced a global data retention policy that will anonymise user log data within a 90-day time period with a few exceptions, such as for fraud and security.