Digital Housekeeping — How to Control what Google has on You
It is safe to say that Data makes the world go round and that’s why almost every company strives to gather as much information as possible about their users. Case in point: Cambridge Analytica and the Facebook data-mining saga.
The world is currently focused on Facebook since the news broke out that data from about 50 million users may have been illegally mined and used by Cambridge Analytica, a data mining and analysis company.
Now, this “insatiable appetite” for data is not limited to Facebook, other companies in the Big 5 — Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple — are also very data driven and they pride themselves on how much they are able to do with the data they have on all their users.
Google has moved on to becoming almost indispensable in our daily lives. From Search to Apps/Extensions that help with workplace and personal productivity, this indispensability has made it quite easy for them to gather data on their users, knowingly and unknowingly.
An example of the type of information Google gathers from users that might make them a bit uncomfortable is, the fact that they watch you while you shop both online and offline. Say you view an advert for a Canon Camera and walk into a store to request and/or purchase a Canon Camera, Google wants to be able to relate your online and offline shopping behaviour and then relay that information to advertisers.
This information may not be entirely accurate because it doesn’t take into consideration that the user might have also seen offline ads before making a buying decision. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that the tool exists and has caused a lot of outrage as users feel like their privacy has been seriously breached.
Currently, Google takes this information and uses it without clear user permissions but for those in the EU, this will change soon. The GDPR will make sure that Google and Facebook will be unable to use whatever personal data they hold for advertising purposes without express user permission.
This regulation covers users in the EU and will take effect from May 25, 2018.
If you are not in the EU or you just want to be sure you are not leaving crumbs for easy tracking, there are a number of things that can be done to ensure that your Digital Footprint, especially with Google is secure. We suggested these general tips previously:
- Using a safe password.
- Taking your browser cookies more seriously
- Ensuring your connection is secure before transmitting information
- Using private emails.
Now, we’ll delve into how you can put some sort of control on the kind of information that Google collects on you:
How to Find Your Google Activity
Sign in to your Google account and then head over to myactivity.google.com. There you will see everything you’ve been using Google for — Maps, Search, YouTube, Google Play etc.
Your current privacy settings will regulate what is displayed on your timeline. Scroll down to “Activity controls” and click “Manage activity” to go through and delete specific searches.
To find the additional data that Google has gathered on you, select “Other Google activity”. For instance, your YouTube survey answers are used to improve the relevance of content and ads that you and others may see on YouTube and other Google products.
How to stop Google from recording your activities
Now if you want to stop Google from recording your searches, go to the “My Account” page and under “Personal info & privacy” page “Activity controls” untoggle “Your searches and browsing activity”.
If you pause this, products like Google Now and Google+ using your web and app activity to improve their suggestions and updates and provide personalised content would be unable to do so.
How to delete your Google Activity
There are several ways for you to delete your data from the “My Activity” page of Google .
Next to each individual item on the “My Activity” page you’ll find the option to permanently delete it from your Google history.
- To delete by product or topic, use the search bar and look for the three dots.
- To delete by date, click on “Delete activity by”. This also includes the option to delete data from “all time.”
How to Limit your Saved data
After deleting your activity, you may want to be preemptive and stop this data from being saved in the future.
Select “Activity controls” so you can edit your preferences for the following categories:
- Web & app activity
- Location history
- Device information
- Voice & audio activity
- YouTube search history
- YouTube watch history
When you are done with all of these, you can run the Google Privacy Checkup tool to review your privacy settings and then adjust them to suit your personal preferences.
How to Opt out of Google Ads
We’re going to focus on how to do this on your browser, and via the settings page on Android phones.
Open your browser and head over to the “My Accounts” page” particularly, the “Ad Settings” page. Click and skip ahead to “Manage Ad Settings” page — you can also de-select the checkbox that allows Google to store ad data.
This page shows your ad preferences and gives you an idea of the topics Google uses to personalize your ads experience. Now if you want to opt out of this to a non-personalized ad experience, click the toggle button on the right.
A popup lets you know what’s going to happen, and if you’re okay with that go ahead and tap “Turn off.”
If you would prefer to have a personalized ad experience but with better control, do that in the “Topics you might like” section just below where you opt-out of ads altogether.
For Android users, you can find the same thing in Settings > Google > Personal info & Privacy > Ads Settings — just follow the above-listed instructions.
How to Opt Out of Personalized App Ads (Android Users)
For Android users, opting out of the personalized app ads experience is simpler than it is on your web browser.
In the Settings menu , scroll down until you see “Google” — in there, select “Ads”, which is listed under the Services subhead.
Click the toggle beside “Opt out of Ads Personalization.” Because, we’re all opted-in by default, you must do this to opt out.
Now doing all of this would not prevent you from seeing AdSense Ads, but it will keep those ads from “watching” what you’re doing, giving you some semblance of privacy.
If you’re looking for new ways to collect data, Formplus is here to can help. Click here to learn more about our features and data solutions.
