Ask is installing doors for privacy

If you search on the Ask network, rest assured that no one will ever lay eyes on incriminating search terms you enter.

Available by the end of the year, Ask will roll out AskEraser, which purges search data.

On a medium with less and less privacy, Ask.com has promised its users that it will not store data on search queries, according to The Globe and Mail. And though search engines have privacy terms, they are powerless to legal subpoenas.

However, because Google is Ask's advertising partner, Google has the ability to store Ask's search queries. Further, since search terms appear in the web address sent to Ask, ISPs could retain queries as well.

Ask plans to review contracts with Google and other third parties to limit what they can do with the stored info, hoping this will start a chain reaction to boost user privacy online.

Already, a small search engine called Ixquick purges all data within 48 hours. Ask users will get the same privacy with AskEraser.

Even without the tool, Ask has joined Google in holding data for only 18 months.