"I have been pressing online companies for greater voluntary efforts to refrain from the massive, systematic gathering of information about individual consumer Web use and the long-term retention of such data in a form that can identify the Web habits, interests, searches, and purchases of individual Americans," Markey said. "I urge other leading online companies to match or beat the commitments announced by Yahoo" said Markey. Last week, Microsoft revealed plans to limit retention of Internet search data in Europe to six months, but said it would follow through on the offer only if other search companies, most notably Google, joined in step. Full Article at Information Week