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Major search engines, including Yahoo, Google and MSN, are bending over backward to update retention policies, minding concerns that consumer search data sits in their hands for far too long, according to ZDNet.

Recently Ask publicly announced the development of AskEraser, which purges search data completely. And on Monday, Microsoft said it would permanently remove the IP address and other identifying data after 18 months. It also committed to store search terms separately from telltale account information, like name, email address or phone number.

Google made a similar 18-month data-erasing commitment, and Yahoo went the extra mile by promising to remove portions of IP addresses and identifying cookies within 13 months, unless users opt for the company to keep the data for longer.

Ask and Microsoft are currently working on proposals for building voluntary industry-wide standards to protect consumer privacy with search and online ads.

These efforts, and others, may appear to stand in stark contrast to growing interest in behavioral advertising efforts by the same firms, including AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo.