Google: 'Personalised search does raise privacy issues'

Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer has said that Google's personalised search plan does raise privacy issues.

Writing in the Financial Times on Friday, Fleischer said:

"...personalised search does raise privacy issues. In order for it to work, search engines must have access to your web search history. And there are some people who may not want to share that information because they believe it is too personal. For them, the improved results that personalised search brings are not matched by the "cost" of revealing their web history."

Fleischer argues that Google can handle this privacy issue by asking users if they want to opt in to the service when they open an account.