Search Engines and Data Retention: Implications for Privacy and Antitrust / Lesley Chiou, Catherine Tucker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chiou, Lesley.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Tucker, Catherine.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w23815.

NBER working paper series no. w23815

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Search Engines and Data Retention

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2017.

Summary:

This paper investigates whether larger quantities of historical data affect a firm's ability to maintain market share in Internet search. We study whether the length of time that search engines retained their server logs affected the apparent accuracy of subsequent searches. Our analysis exploits changes in these policies prompted by the actions of policymakers. We find little empirical evidence that reducing the length of storage of past search engine searches affected the accuracy of search. Our results suggest that the possession of historical data confers less of an advantage in market share than is sometimes supposed. Our results also suggest that limits on data retention may impose fewer costs in instances where overly long data retention leads to privacy concerns such as an individual's ``right to be forgotten."

Notes:

Print version record

September 2017.