In recent years, Google implemented a new privacy policy and
terms of service that unified its 70 separate privacy policies and extended
them across most of Google’s various service offerings. (Mediati,
n.d.) . As a result of this consolidation, all of
your Google account data lives in a single data base that every Google service
can access. In other words, all of the
data you stored in Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, the Google Search Engine, and
more can be accessed by and all of Google’s services. Google insists that this change was made to
benefit users for that it will provide them with faster searches and more
relevant ads. (Vincent, 2015) . Google also states that it collects this data
to help protect users from malware, phasing, and other suspicious activity. (Google, n.d.) . Furthermore, Google promises users that it
does not share information with advertisers in ways that personally identifies
them unless the users give permission. (Google, n.d.) . However, advocacy groups fear that users will
lose control over the personal data that they shared with Google and that the
cost outweighs the benefits.
According to a recent Pew study, 93 percent of people think
it’s important to control access to their personal information and 90 percent
care about the type of information that is collected about them. However only 9 percent feel they have “a lot”
of control over it. (Madden, 2015) .
Google understands its users concerns. Therefore, in response, Google built numerous
security tools to help keep users information secure and safe, while also putting
them in control of it.
One of the first things users can do is become knowledgeable
about the information Google actually stored on you. Google is very transparent about the data it
has on file. Users can do this by
visiting the Google Dashboard at google.com/dashboard
and logging in with their Google account.
Users are encouraged to click through the various services and to review
the information Google is storing. It’s
recommended that users then clear any information from Google’s database that
they no longer want associated with their Google account.
Another thing Google users can do to help protect their privacy
is clearing their web browsing history.
According to Google, the company saves information about user’s web
activity, including pages they visit and Google searches. Over time, Google may use additional
information about a user’s activity to allow Google to deliver a better search
experience to users. (Mediati, n.d.) . Google collects this information by placing a
browser cookie on your pages. Users can
turn this off by visiting google.com/history and
clicking, “Remove all web history” and clicking “ok” on the next screen. However, by doing this, users should be aware
that they giving up their search engine personalization and both search results
and ads will be less tailored to the user’s preferences.
With that being said, Google tracks your data to serve users
with personalized ads based on their search queries and/or on the content of
your Gmail messages. Find this
invasive? Don’t worry! You can disable this tracking by visiting “Google’s
Ad Preferences” page and in the left-hand column, clicking on the “Opt out”
button. Users should be particularly
mindful of this tip as they prepare for the holiday season. If you share a computer with a significant
other or children, Google ads could accidently giveaway what you are planning
on buying, or did buy for your loved ones!
So what happens if you want to remove some, but not all, of
your personal data from Google? What if
you want to keep your personalized search inquires and personalized ads in tact
but don’t want to necessarily ruin your Christmas gift giving surprise? Luckily, Google has a solution for this as
well. You’ll want to head over to Google
Takeout, which allows you to download a copy of all the data stored in the
various Google services. Once there you
can download the data for all of Google’s supported services or you can pick
and choose the data you want to download.
Once you have made your selection and chose what you want to download,
click the “Create Archive” button at the bottom of the page. After downloading the archive, you are able
to delete the data from each of the individual Google services. (Mediati, n.d.) . This is a bit of a manual process, but again,
it’s up to you to determine what your privacy is worth.
Lastly, for those who don’t want Google to store anything
about them, you can always completely remove your Google account. Deleting your Google account means losing all
of the information associated with it, including your Gmail, search engine
queries, personalized ads, anything you stored in Google Docs, your blog,
places you visited using Google Maps and more.
To do this, Google users will want to visit their “Account Settings”
page, scroll to the bottom, and under services, click “Close entire account and
delete all services and info associated with it.” On the next page, users will be asked to
confirm that they want to delete this account, enter their password, and click “Delete
Google Account.”
But is anything ever really deleted from the internet? Or better yet, is data ever really 100
percent secure?
We all know the answer to these questions is “no.” We know that nothing is ever fully deleted
from the internet and hackers have broken into many sites that have claimed to
be of the upmost security in the past. Remember
when hackers broke into Sony Pictures and released the film The Interview or broke into various
government websites and government official’s emails? It happens!
And it’s nothing new to us.
Furthermore, today’s generation also knows that in order to utilize Google’s
search engine, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, etc. we are doing so at a
price. We must give Google (and the same
goes for other sites) our data in exchange for these free services. But does it make it ok? In my opinion, it’s the nature of the
beast. It’s a price us users must pay in
exchange for convenience. If users feel
that the privacy and security of their personal data outweighs the cost or need
for convenience, they have the option to “unplug” and not use these free services. However, as time goes on and technology
evolves, I believe that users are going to find it harder and harder to “unplug.”
Google. (n.d.). Does Google Sell My Personal
Information? Retrieved from Google:
https://privacy.google.com/#google-information
Google. (n.d.). What Does Google Do With the Data
It Collects? Retrieved from Google:
https://privacy.google.com/#google-data
Madden, M. a. (2015, May 20). Americans’
Attitudes About Privacy, Security and Surveillance. Retrieved from
PewResearch Center:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/05/20/americans-attitudes-about-privacy-security-and-surveillance/
Mediati, N. (n.d.). Google Privacy Checklist:
What to Do Before Google's Privacy Policy Changes on March 1. Retrieved
from PC World:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/250950/google_privacy_checklist_what_to_do_before_googles_privacy_policy_changes_on_march_1.html
Vincent, J. (2015, June 1). Google Shows What It
Knows About Us In New Privacy Hub. Retrieved from The Verge:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/1/8696705/google-privacy-settings-hub-my-account
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