From Digital Journal...
What?
With just a week to go before Google changes to its new privacy policy that allows it to gather, store and use personal information, users have a last chance to delete their Google Browsing History, along with any damning information therein.Why?
Tech News Daily reports that once Google's new unified privacy policy takes effect all data already collected about you, including search queries, sites visited, age, gender and location will be gathered and assigned to your online identity represented by your Gmail and YouTube accounts. After the policy takes effect you are not allowed to opt out without abandoning Google altogether. But now before the policy takes effect, you have the option of deleting your Google Web History by modifying your settings so that Google is unable to associate data collected about you with your Gmail or YouTube accounts.
Tech News Daily reports that Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that advocates for online privacy, says: "Search data can reveal particularly sensitive information about you, including facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and more."How?
1. Go to the google homepage and sign into your account.When?
2. Click the dropdown menu next to your name in the upper-right hand corner of your screen.
3. Click accounts settings
4. Find the "Services section"
5. Under "Services" there is a sub-section that reads "View, enable, disable web history." Click the link next to it that reads: "Go to Web History."
6. Click on "Remove all Web History"
When you click on "Remove all Web History," a message appears that says " Web History is Paused." What this means is that while Google will continue gathering and storing information about your web history it will make all data anonymous, that is, Google will not associate your Web History information with your online accounts and will therefore be unable to send you customized search results.
Google's ability to gather personalized information about you by assigning data to your Gmail and YouTube accounts will remain "Paused" till you click "Resume."
You have until tonight at midnight.
.
7 comments:
"Search data can reveal particularly sensitive information about you, including facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and more."
Paranoia run amok.
Like none of that isn't already available on Facebook and elsewhere? If you are a blogger who shares information freely, it's also available.
We learned earlier this month that just having a Sunpass can reveal all kinds of information about you. (Just ask a few hundred South Fla. cops.)
In 2009, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt warned users,
"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
If you do not have a Gmail or a YouTube account, does that mean that Google cannot gather info about you?
If I wanted people to know everything about me then I would always wear a sandwich board with my life history on it. For me it's not that I don't care if anyone knows, it's whether they really have a need to know. Maybe staying off the internet is an option for some people but it isn't for me, so I try to minimize my footprint any way I can.
I checked and I didnt even have history enabled in the first place...
Just did this. I was really surprised to see almost two full years of my Google search history. Not that I really care if it were to ever get out but... you never know...
Another thing to keep in mind -- although it applies to a small group of users -- is that if you have more than 1 Google account, but use their multiple sign-on feature, then data about all accounts are associated with each account. For example, I've got a personal account, a professional account, and an account for Hidden City. Every thing I may have searched for under Hidden City's account is associated with my other profiles. So if you plan to clean house, clean all the rooms.
You can always use Google, and most of their products, without login in. Other than Gmail, I do not login when I do a Google search or look a t Maps or Google earth or Youtube.
Post a Comment
Spam, vulgar language, trolling and off-topic comments are not tolerated at SFDB and your comment will be removed if it meets this criteria.