As governments seek to tighten regulations and consumers demand more privacy, it could be that the last piece in the jigsaw, the search engines, may capitulate to pressure on privacy.

Google's privacy chief Peter Fleischer expressed concern about personal data passing through countries with limited data protection laws. He recognised that the only way forward is for net users and providers to take the privacy issue more seriously.

Businesses in future may come under pressure to improve privacy from the big providers as well as statutory limitations and consumer demands.