Google’s Auto-Delete Tools Are Practically Worthless for Privacy
By the time Google deletes your activity data, it’s already extracted most of the advertising value
By Jared Newman
By default, Google collects a vast amount of data on users’ behavior, including a lifelong record of web searches, locations, and YouTube views.
But amid a privacy backlash and ongoing regulatory threats, the company has started to hype its recently released privacy tools, like the ability to automatically delete some of the data it collects about you — data that helps power its $116 billion ad business.
With a trip to Google’s activity controls page, you can choose to purge that data on a rolling three-month or 18-month basis. The company pitches this tool, along with the ability to manually delete data through Google’s activity pages, as one of many ways users can control their privacy.
“You should always be able to manage your data in a way that works best for you — and we’re committed to giving you the best controls to make that happen,” two Google product managers wrote on the company’s blog in May.
