Recently Ask.com introduced the AskEraser that stops the site from collecting information about a user. As it doesn’t run its own advertising system, using Google, there isn’t much reason to collect data. Of course, Ask is also trying to differentiate from the competitors who all collect data, and this erodes the privacy in the Internet world. Ask is far down on the list of sites that someone concerned about its privacy could be interested.
But, for now, the privacy issue isn’t of much concern as the reality of the collecting users data isn’t such evident for the public perception.
Google is collecting a lot of data from its users as it runs its own advertising system. Still, it doesn’t use all the data in its advertising business, although it has a real possibility to track its users and to collect even personal data. Google is reluctant to use data in this way as it has a different possibility to address its users. For example, it uses what people are searching for through its search site and the content of pages to pick the right ads to show on each page.
On the other hand, other companies are using data about users for the benefit of advertisers. Yahoo, for example, from the start, used users data in benefit for its partners and is already using what you search for to pick ads to show you in its site.