When Yahoo announced the policy in 2008, the company noted that its goal was to be able to minimize data retention while also being able to offer a highly personalized experience for users.

While the company's goals remain the same, the Internet has changed and so has Yahoo's business and its competition, Toth said. As a result of these changes "we are moving to align our log file data retention policy closer to the competitive norm across the industry," Toth said.

Yahoo's announcement comes just two months after the U.S. Department of Justice and an organization representing police chiefs from around the country mandating Internet Service Providers retain certain customer usage data for as long as two years.

Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning public policy research organization, said there's nothing to indicate that Yahoo's immediate move was the result of any government pressure. Instead, the move appears to be have been driven purely by competitive pressures.

He said it would be up to consumers to decide if it is something that is appropriate or not.