How to know what data is being collected from you by Google and what you can do about it.

Colin / Wikimedia Commons
Colin / Wikimedia Commons
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Information is valuable and companies are scrambling to collect as much data as possible in order to target customers for advertising.

Facebook’s constant tug-of-war with its users is usually the focus of online privacy, but data is being collected across thousands of websites each day. Internet giant Google is also in the business of collecting information; for better or worse. A constant stream of data can enhance the user experience, but can be worrying for those who value their privacy.

Location tracking is the most visually interesting data that Google tracks and keeps on file. You can literally track everywhere you have gone over the years. You can look at your movement each day, week or month and it will look something like this:

Google
Google
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Anyone concerned about having their location data stored can choose to delete all of their location history.

Google also profiles you based on your searches and activity to craft more effective advertising. This profile can be viewed in your Google account’s Ad Settings, which can yield interesting results.

For example, Google knows I am into comedy, technology and video games. Unfortunately, it also thinks I am interested in hair care, rodents and pop music. You can choose to opt-out of these interest-based  ads in your settings.

Google tracks the websites you visit and your activity through Google Analytics, which you can opt-out of through this link. However, this data is critical to websites (like ours) in understanding our audience and what content they engage with the most.

The internet search giant has recently released a Devices and Activity dashboard so you can check which devices are connected to your Google account. A good resource to check to ensure you are the only one accessing your account.

Your entire search history is stored online and you can delete any records you don’t want Google to know about. I’m sure Google won’t judge most of your online searches, but I’m sure there are some you would rather keep private.

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