Google has been spying on my girlfriend’s online purchase history
I am slightly mad at my girlfriend since she used my Credit card to subscribe to Amazon Prime video while being glued to Netflix all year along. However, more than my girlfriend, I am dead mad at Google for saving each and every online purchase she ever made from my account without consent.
And she’s not alone.
For years, Google has been collecting the what, when and how of my online shopping. And it very likely collects yours too and tucks them safely in some remote server waiting for data brokers to buy your data (most likely).
According to a CNBC report, Google uses your Gmail to track your order receipts of everything you shop online. Google now sits on a pile of billing and order data of millions of consumers worldwide. So the tech giant knows your reckless shopping habits.
It seems Google allows you to catch up with ages of purchase history in a nifty dashboard that can be viewed only by you.
I decided to skim through mine and found that I had squandered money back in 2015 on an overpriced, useless fidget cube whose whereabouts are not certain to me anymore. My purchases reveal how lonely I was until I got into a relationship this year.
Though the charm my beloved brings into my life is debatable, she has definitely made a splash on my order history and lightened up with useless junks like Ear-rings, key-chains, dreamcatchers, a designer scarf and so on.
Why in the hell, does one need a dreamcatcher anyway?
Okay, okay, back to the point.
So, looking at my list, it gave me a series of transactions against their order date that looks something like this.This one’s the most recent.
Like any other self-conscious netizen, I tried to delete my history just someone could delete their browser history. Surprisingly though, I found out that there was no option for bulk delete and instead, you had to do it one at a time shown in the picture below.
My earliest purchase dates back to July 2015. Google churned this much info just by reading my Gmail receipts. Imagine the volume of info Google has amassed without our knowledge, behind our backs.
Maybe I can digest the fact that Amazon can save and chronologically track my spends. It makes sense because it’s an online marketplace that would wants me to have a hassle-free shopping experience. It pesters me to buy socks when I buy shoes, Back covers and tempered glass when I buy a phone. All that I get it.
Enter Google, who out of nowhere, wants to entertain you with a cute little dashboard showing stuff you bought for your exes ages back. Showing you detailed order summaries when no one asked it to. Just stay out of what I buy online.
Totally uncool Google.
Don’t mistake me, I am a huge fan of Google, for all its free stuff and goodies it offers and keeps the Internet alive. However, what’s infuriating is the fact that Google has all the money and time to dig up my buying history by sneaking into my email while shutting down brilliant apps. It shut down Inbox, the ingenious email app that decluttered and organized my emails like Marie Kondo would. It shut down Goo.gl URL shortener which was my go-to link shortener when I had to make sure that someone had checked out what I shared. I loved Google Allo for its hilarious and cute stickers which again, shut down.
There were so many Google services that were snapped out of existence into decimation. Yet, it has enough resources to unsettle innocent guys like me who just wants to maintain a stable personal life and strive for a better tomorrow.
But we’re talking about Google here. Execs at Google HQ are definitely not reading this and wouldn’t know that this is going to keep me up tonight. Gift-wrapping my personal info into an expendable service like this is good as far as they don’t use this information against me. Nevertheless, I see no reason for them not to use it that way.
One thing I am certain of — the cuter a Google’s service, the more potentially destructive and it is.
