Steps to Guard Your Privacy in Using Google
Also see: Virtual Private Network Software for Maximum Privacy on the Internet
Is the privacy scare on overdrive? News commentators have made a lot of hay out of the extent of data that Google collects related to computer users with a Gmail ID.
But the flip side is that you the user can access and utilize your tracking data in a lot of handy ways, and can exercise a certain amount of control and editing over the data.
Here are some of the features you can access as a Google user. (A Gmail address and a Google ID are the same.)
Location History
Go to https://www.google.com/maps/timeline in your browser and you can review your location and route history for travel days and time on the road.
If you keep a smart phone logged into your Google account this becomes a high powered tool for you as a user.
This can be handy for reviewing or double-checking when you were at a location, whether it's a business establishment or visiting a friend.
My Activity
Go to https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity in your browser and you'll find a master page for finding searches and page visits you've made online through Google.
This is not too different from the History you can access through your browser, whether it's Chrome or Edge or IE or Firefox.
The difference is that the MyActivity pulls together search and web visit histories across multiple browsers or devices logged into your Google account.
MyActivity is a handy feature for revisiting sites or continuing subject searches on your PC that you initiated previously on your smart phone or tablet.
Ads Personalization
Go to https://www.google.com/settings/ads/ in your browser to go to a page where you can personalize the ads that you want to see
Since Google services are mostly free of charge, Google makes its money by serving up advertisements on the pages you visit.
By default, the ads over time will tend to reflect the content of webpages that you visit and searches that you initiate.
You're not powerless over this process though.
The ads personalization section enables you to provide input to direct what kinds of advertising content appears when you're on Google pages.
Google provides up to 80 subject categories to choose. They are based in part on your past web use and in part on Google's algorithms.
You can use the options on this page to delete subject areas for which you do not want to see advertisements.
Security
Go to https://security.google.com/ in your browser and you'll be directed to a one-stop area to check the security settings and features of your Google account.
These include editable choices on how you sign into Google on your devices, which apps have access to or through your Google account, setting your personal info, content controls, and related settings concerning subscriptions and services you may have through Google.
In this area you can raise or lower the level of security verification required for signing into your Google account and services from your PC or other devices.
This area also includes access to setting governing your Google Drive storage, if you use this for cloud storage.
YouTube History
YouTube is owned by Google and relies upon your Google (Gmail) ID log-in for customization of YouTube features. People can use YouTube anonymously for no-frills video watching, but YouTube's customization features are only available when accessing YouTube through a Google account.
Go to https://www.youtube.com/feed/history and you'll find a complete reverse-chronological history of videos you've watched on YouTube.
You'll also find a tab to review a similar display of searches you've initiated on YouTube seeking videos.
Not only can you revisit videos and searches through your YouTube history, but you also can save Favorite and Watch Later video links, upload videos yourself, and build Playlists from videos you want to batch together for your own enjoyment or to share.
All Your Data
Go to https://www.google.com/takeout/ in your browser and you can create an archive with your data from Google products.
Most people just use a small number of the free products available with their Google accounts. Following however is a list of the major products available.
- +1s
- Blogger
- Bookmarks
- Calendar
- Chrome
- Classroom
- Contacts
- Drive (Microsoft Powerpoint and 3 other formats)
- Fit
- G Suite Marketplace
- Google My Business
- Google Pay Send
- Google Pay: Rewards, Gift cards & Offers
- Google Photos
- Google Play Books
- Google Play Music
- Google+ Circles
- Google+ Pages
- Google+ Stream
- Groups
- Handsfree
- Hangouts
- Hangouts on Air
- Input Tools
- Keep
- Location History
- Mail
- Maps (your places)
- My Activity
- My Maps
- Profile
- Search Contributions
- Street View
- Tasks
- YouTube
Creating an archive can be a useful exercise even if just for the sake of curiosity.
Take note however - the archive can be a big file, running up into gigabytes of data.
If you create an archive, I suggest saving into to your PC, not your phone or tablet. Most PC hard drives today have ample storage space.
General comments
Google gathers far more user data than even Facebook does. This data serves to customize and synchronize Google services for its users, and is shared with advertisers.
Most shared data may be aggregated and anonymous, but some may allow individual identification depending on specific terms of service agreements that the user okays in the course of setting up and continuing to use each of the various Google products.
Many users maintain more than one Google account. Your Google account is the same as your Gmail address.
If you use more than one account, the data for each one is separate and distinct from any other.
You can access more than one account at a time on a PC by using multiple browsers - e.g. Chrome for your personal Google and Edge for a business Google - or separate User ID log-ins on the same computer.
On the flip side, you can use the same Google account on multiple browsers and devices, even simultaneously.
These options may seem complicated, but with help or coaching they can be used to customize or clean up your history fairly speedily. This can offer you more privacy and security, and also help make your internet use go more smoothly.
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