• BBC News, Wednesday, May 20, 2009 12 PM

Google co-founder Larry Page thinks there ought to be more debate around storing user data, which he says can be beneficial for users. "More dialogue is needed [with EU regulators]," Page told journalists at a Google event in the UK. He said Google's ability to predict things like pandemics would not be possible if it had to delete search data after six months, as the EU wants.

"When we released data about Mexico flu trends we had a whole debate," he said. "We were worried we would cause panic. But we decided the benefits outweighed the cost." Page added that deleting search data after six months was "in direct conflict" with being able to map pandemics, and that the less data companies like Google are able to hold the "more likely we all are to die".

Meanwhile, the EU has argued that holding search data runs the risk of third parties being able to build profiles of individuals, which is why it is calling for Google to erase the data after six months. In September 2008 the search giant said it would anonymize user data after nine months following pressure from the EU. Previously, Google had kept the data, which includes IP addresses and search terms, for 18 months.

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