Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton

Ask Eraser, a feature from Ask.com allowing users to choose to delete their cookies and "tracking where you’ve been on the web so we can sell stuff to you" information from their databases (Google and MSN keep this information for 18 months).  All you have to do to turn it on is click on the button at the top of the Ask.com page (you can also turn it off any time), and then the status lasts for 24 months.  Oh yes, except for any access of Ask’s search engine through embedded search boxes.  Since its launch, other exceptions have been found by hole-hunters, causing some to get persnickety.  But all in all, I’d much rather have any promise of privacy rather than no promise at all.  Read some more thoughts from Ars Technica and BBC News.