Control What Google Knows About You With This New Tool

By | July 10, 2016
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Control What Google Knows About You With This New Tool

I debated on whether to publish this article or not. Once you see what Google knows about you and how far back that knowledge goes, your first reaction might be to never use Google again. There is enough googlephobia out there without my adding to it. But that would not be fair to you – it’s not fair to you and not fair to Google. More than allowing you to see what Google knows about, the new Google Activity Tool allows you to see, edit, and delete any or all of the information Google has collected about you. And this is a giant step forward for you – and for Google.

If you’re concerned about Google knows about you, then be concerned about using the Internet. Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and others track users just like Google does – and to the same extent. So whatever services you use, someone out there has a nice dossier about you.

It’s scary and it’s getting worse. It goes way beyond Google and it goes way beyond the others. It has gotten to the point where local, state, and federal governments are collecting information on every one of us and it’s only going to get worse It makes me wonder, sometimes, what technology is going to do us as private individuals. Are we all going to become one mass collective – like Star Trek’s Borg?

So, while you may be against Google’s tracking, at least now, Google is giving you a chance to see, control and delete the information it knows about you – and to control what Google can collect about you in the future.

So I give credit to Google for making this tool available and for giving individuals control over the information that is collected about them.

So if you use any of Google’s services: Gmail, Drive, Calendar, YouTube, et. al., keep on reading.

Google’s new Activity Tool lets you view, edit and delete all the information Google has collected about you.

If you have a Google account you can now view, control, manage, and/or delete all the information Google has collected about you, such as websites you’ve visited, your searches, videos you’ve watched on YouTube and more. Google’s new My Activity tool shows you everything Google knows about you and gives you the tools you need to manage all this information. You can delete it, you can modify it, you can prevent information from being collected about you in the future.

You can control and manage all Google services – Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Drive – using the My Activity Tool. You can use the tool to pause, stop, or allow data collection about you for any Google service.

Viewing, editing and deleting the data Google has collected about you is pretty easy. Just click on the three vertical dot menu at the top, and you’ll find tools that will allow you to control, edit or delete entries individually or all at once and for all time.

Keep in mind if you turn off Google ads, you’re not going to stop seeing ads, you’re just not going to see ads targeted to your interests.

If you’ve got a Google account (and you do if you use Gmail), visit this page right now and use Google’s new My Activity Tool to see and control what Google knows about you.

Below: Here are some screen shots to show you what you’ll see when you use Google’s My Activity Tool:

 

3 thoughts on “Control What Google Knows About You With This New Tool

  1. Yvonne

    That’s just ridiculous that every website is recorded! Not so much “the land of the free” these days! So far from it…

    Reply
  2. Polcat

    How do I protect my email addresses, both Google and other, from Google putting them in public

    Reply
    1. infoave Post author

      Google does not display your email address in public.

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Polcat Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *