As companies like Google and Facebook fall under scrutiny for their online privacy policies, Americans are getting uncomfortable with the the fact that using a search engines could turn over their personal data for collection and targeted advertising.

Reuters cites a new Pew survey released today that shows just how discomfited we’re getting with web privacy policies. Google recently shmushed its privacy policies into one simple policy that encompasses users’ personal information for multiple products like YouTube and Gmail.

The survey shows that 65% of users think its a bad thing if a search engine collected information about searches and then used it to rank future search results. One worry was that the practice would limit information users see when they search for things online.

Even more users, 73%, aren’t cool with a search engine keeping track of searches and personalizing future search results, dubbing it an invasion of privacy. But only 38% said they know how to limit what information about them is collected by a website.

Search engine users disapprove of data collection: survey [Reuters]

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