I learned about Google Latitude the day it was introduced but didn’t see it as particularly a news-worthy item primarily because other companies have already done this before, that being to "see where your friends are in real time".

What is news-worthy is that privacy advocates have already stated (yelled would actually be more appropriate) that the system it could could be a potential privacy minefield.

I can see the potential benefits of tracking where people are but I can also see its drawbacks.

An example benefit would be for tracking your children. Your child has a smartphone and you want to have an easy way to know where they are. Latitude would serve you well in that respect.

An example drawback: Google knows physically where you are whenever you use it. That’s a bit scary. I don’t see this technology as "cool" or innovative in that respect.

Hopefully people will understand the difference between "cool" and personal privacy when using this service.

Very recently, Yahoo! announced it would limit some (keyword there) of its data retention to a sparse (and unheard of) 90 days.

Privacy advocates have been screaming loudly for a very long time that web companies – particularly search engines – hold on to data that can personally identify an individual for far too long.

The fact Yahoo has stepped up and laid down its own 90-day rule is a victory for privacy advocates. It’s a safe bet that Google and Microsoft will follow suit in short order.

When I say "sparse", I truly mean it. The previous data retention from Yahoo was 13 months. Google strips out some data after 9 months and Microsoft holds on to data for a whopping 18 months.

What does this all mean in simple terms?

For example, if you still use the same ISP you did 18 months ago, any search you performed on www.live.com (Microsoft) is still stored somewhere on a Microsoft server – even if you weren’t logged in with a Windows ID because the searches are recorded by IP as well as ID.

With Google, data is stored whether logged in with a Google ID or not, just like Microsoft. Every single Google search you’ve made from your home has been recorded and stored for the past 9 months.

For those that would say "Yeah, so?", consider how much web searching you do on the internet; it says a lot about who you are and possibly your family as well. Do you really want web companies privately researching you based on your search habits? Of course you don’t – but that’s what is happening at present, save for Yahoo.

Personally speaking I would applaud it if Google and Microsoft would adopt the same 90-day data retention Yahoo does. Fingers crossed.