Yahoo Will Watch You, But Only For 90 Days

Yahoo also expanded its policy to cover not only search log data but also page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks.

The change will be seamless and users won't see a difference using the company's products or services.

However, to combat fraud and security breaches. Yahoo said it will retain system-specific data in "identifiable" form for up to six months if it needs to meet specific legal obligations.

Yahoo said the move was fueled after it conducted a review of its data practices and that its heads of business and engineering units worked with privacy and data governance.

"[Users] want assurances that we are focused on protecting their privacy," said Anne Toth, Yahoo's vice president of Policy and Head of Privacy, in a statement. "This policy represents Yahoo's assessment of the minimum amount of time we need to retain data in order to respond to the needs of our business."

Yahoo, Sunnyvale, Calif., also said that this week the Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe reported it was ranked as the 14th overall trusted company and the highest ranked search engine appearing on its list.