BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Google and Microsoft's search engine store personal information for 18 months, Yahoo and Time Warner's AOL keep it for 13 months, now Ask.com is looking to establish itself as the Internet's least intrusive search engine by purging a user's search requests within a few hours with a new security tool named AskEraser.

    The feature follows through on a pledge that Oakland-based Ask.com made five months ago as it tried to seize the high ground in an escalating debate about how long search engines and other websites should hold on to personal information about their users.

    "We definitely want to stand out from the other guys," said Doug Leeds, Ask.com's senior vice president of product management. "This level of control is unprecedented and unmatched."

    Because Ask relies on Google to deliver many of the text-based ad links on its pages, Leeds said some information about search requests and clicks will still end up on Google's computers even when AskEraser is turned on.

    With a 3 percent market share, Ask.com is currently the fifth largest U.S. search engine, based on October traffic tracked by the research firm Nielsen Online. Google was by far the largest with a 55 percent share, followed by Yahoo (19 percent), Microsoft (14 percent) and AOL (4 percent).

    Among other things, details about search requests help customize online ads aimed at each user's perceived interests — a practice that's drawing more attention from regulators, lawmakers and privacy rights watchdogs.

    Other websites also are coming under fire for violating privacy rights in pursuit of profits. In a high-profile example, rapidly growing Internet hangout Facebook Inc. last week gave its users the right to turn off a marketing tool that tracks their online activities after more than 65,000 people signed a petition to protest the tool.

    (Agencies)