Google offers to archive your web history

Google Web History will allow users to archive, search and view all pages, images and video

Google is touting a new service that keeps a complete archive of a user's web browsing history. 

Google Web History will allow users to archive, search and view all pages, images and video that they have visited online.

The service will also allow integrated web and search history to personalise results based on previous search and viewing patterns.

"Imagine always knowing exactly where you saw something online, like that priceless YouTube video of your friend attempting to perform dance moves from a bygone age," said Payam Shodjai, Google product manager for personalisation.

"Better yet, imagine having this wealth of information work for you to make searching for new information easier and faster."

A Google spokesperson told vnunet.com that there is no limit to how long the service will retain data. 

However, because the service only catalogues URLs rather than caching entire HTML files, pages that have since been deleted or moved will not be accessible through Google Web History.

The service requires a Google account and the Google Toolbar, and users will be able to access their histories from any computer with the service enabled.

Users concerned about their privacy will be happy to know that the service is not enabled by default, and that the PageRank feature in Google Toolbar must be manually enabled in order for browsing history to be recorded.