A reduction of personal data retention should have no negative impact on an internet search company in its ability to create user-related content, it has been claimed.

This comes after search engine Yahoo! announced plans to reduce the amount of time that it retains information on its users.

Ian Brown, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, remarked: "It is quite possible to design systems to serve up targeted ads and personalised content in a way that doesn't require you to keep personal information for long periods of time."

He added that Yahoo!'s new system, which enables the search engine to keep data for only three months, is not that far off being adopted by the likes of Google or Microsoft too.

Yahoo!'s new implementation follows the publication of the 1995 European Commission's Article 29 Working Party comment in April this year, that search engines retain personal data for no longer than six months.

Google and Microsoft also responded to this recommendation.

The former claimed it would reduce its retention period to nine months, while the latter pledged to adhere to EU regulations provided all search engine companies are on board.