Data Detox 7: Does Google Know You?

In day seven of the Data Detox Journal was all about finding out how “Google sees you”. The first thing I was asked to do was to go to the ad settings in Google and see how accurate Google’s algorithms are. Looking through the ads, a couple seemed to be pretty spot on, but a few others, such as football, were not accurate at all. This made me wonder how exactly they figure out what my interests are. Next, I was asked to read a few articles about how there has been prejudice in ads where certain groups of people were purposefully left out. This was something I had never thought about before, but I honestly was not shocked to hear about it. People have been excluded and looked down on for who they are and what they look like for so long now, it just seems like the tragic truth of our society. I was also asked to read an article about how there was illegal data sharing between Google and the U.K.’s National Health Service. This particular article was pretty shocking to me and make me feel more conscious about who has access to my medical records and information and how it can be used against me. Watching the video about terms and conditions really opened my eyes to the dangers I miss every time I mindlessly click “I agree”.