Search engine privacy has gotten its fair share of attention in the media recently, partly because Congress took an interest in the matter during an election year.

If you don't fully understand the situation, it's simple. You're sitting there in your own den or livingroom in your PJ's at 10:15 at night - your hair in curlers, vodka and tonic in your hand, watching Sex in the City reruns with your left eye while you look through Google, Yahoo, MSN or AOL searches with your right eye. And the company is saving a history of what you looked for.

It's tempting to think of it as Big Brother being there with you. It's more like Big Uncle or Big First Cousin. On the one hand, it's not the government per se; on the other hand, the company might get a subpoena from the government asking for your records one day.

Who knows what you're searching for? (I shudder to think.) But it's just you and your stuffed animals and your vodka and tonic there in the livingroom. You look for a recipe for brownies. You find one that includes marijuana. You're shocked. You wonder how common this is, so you search for something else to do with drugs in America. You find our that drugs and prostitution are considered to be related through organized crime in your state. Next thing you know you're running searches designed to tell you if there's a brothel near you. Now what would that look like to your Congressman (or your pastor)? Oh well, in nine months there won't be a record of it anymore...

Lifehacker had a nice piece recently on search engine privacy. While Yahoo may keep your search records for 90 days and MSN will keep them for a year and a half, you don't necessarily have to show up in their database at all.

Wendy Boswell has some tips for maintaining your online privacy.


Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 317288