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Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
Google knows a whole lot about you. Here's how to make it forget
Google collects a staggering amount of information about you -- maybe even more than you realize. Google remembers every search you perform and every YouTube video you watch. Whether you have an iPhone ($699 at Amazon) or Android phone, Google Maps logs everywhere you go, the route you take to get there, when you arrive and what time you leave -- even if you never open the app. When you really take a look at everything Google knows about you, the results can be shocking -- maybe even a little frightening. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do about it.
As a spate of data leaks and privacy violations continues to weaken the public's trust in big tech companies, Google has responded by creating a privacy hub that lets you access, delete and limit the data Google collects on you. Navigating all the various settings can get confusing, however, and it's not always clear what you're giving Google permission to do.
What's worse, whenever you make a change that would restrict how much or for how long Google tracks you, Google warns that its services won't work as well without unfettered access to your data. How true that may be isn't very clear.
Despite Google's best efforts to increase transparency, recent revelations that the search giant was secretly sharing users' private data with third-party advertisers have challenged the public's trust in the company, whose Google Home ($99 at Walmart) and Google Nest lines of smart speakers seek to put microphones and cameras in the most private of settings -- your home.
We're going to cut through all the clutter and show you how to access the private data Google has on you, as well as how to delete some or all of it. Then we're going to help you find the right balance between your privacy and the Google services you rely on by choosing settings that limit Google's access to your information without impairing your experience.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 03 2019, @11:38PM (6 children)
Ditto the navigation. The old explorers were able to walk across this contintent, while squinting into the sun, and that's good enough for me. Well, me and Rand McNally. The few times I've been with someone navigating via GPS, I really, really, REALLY wanted to throw that thing out the window. I would rather get lost now and then, and see some new scenery, than to stare at that screen and miss all the scenery. How do guys find girls these days, if they're staring at the screen? Oh - I forgot - they DON'T find girls. They hang out on the interwebs, bitching that girls don't like them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @12:55AM
These days, girls ( and guys too! ) are far more apt to be a liability than an asset!
(Score: 4, Touché) by RS3 on Monday November 04 2019, @01:06AM
Wow, what a waste of time. Oh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @01:13AM (1 child)
if they did find a "girl", how would they know it was a "girl"? isn't "girl" a social construct?
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday November 04 2019, @03:42AM
No, it's a biological construct. In any case every Linux user knows where to find girl on the Internet [gnome.org] (source code here [gnome.org]).
(Score: 3, Funny) by julian on Monday November 04 2019, @01:28AM (1 child)
OK boomer
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 04 2019, @02:44AM
Sooner!
My rights don't end where your fear begins.