Big Corp tracks our every
digital footstep – tell me something new! As someone who values what little
privacy we have left, I take many steps towards actively minimising my on-line footprint.
But just how much data do companies hold on us? I guess the real answer is we
will never know, but I recently stumbled upon the history Google holds about me:
https://history.google.com/history.
First off when visiting this
site, Google reassures me is that only I, as site owner, can see this history data.
Ok, that’s a good start, but I question this statement. It is only true if you don’t
include Google themselves, any associated marketing/advertising partners and government
departments with a warrant for Google to hand over this data.
So what do Google (admit to)
track? My Web and App activity –
going back to 2009 when I opened my account, showed that, apparently, my second
most searched item of all time is www.indeed.co.uk.
This turns out to be a job site which it is possible I have visited in the past,
but this site made no lasting impression on me because I don’t remember it. My third most visited site was monsterhunter.wikia.com. I tried to visit this site
as again I have no lasting memory of it, but the site has long since closed
down. Ok, if that is truly the accuracy of information they have on me, so far I have
little to be concerned about. Next comes Voice
and Audio Activity – which is empty as I have never knowingly used this
feature. Next is my Device Information
– empty, Location History – again
empty. Finally comes YouTube Watch History
and YouTube Search History. In all,
Google had very little information on me because, as said above, I take active
measures to reduce my footprint. However, if I allowed them, they could hold a
very detailed profile – where I have been, what I have done, and indeed how I
did it.
So what can I do about this? I
believe Google can only track this information when I am logged into my Google account.
For a while now I have been using a Firefox app called Google sign out – which must work as Google have little information
about me since installing it. Google is not the only search engine, and for
several years I’ve been using DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo suits my purposes, but its
engine is a long way behind Google. It does however allow an easy fallback to
search via Google when their search engine does not find appropriate results, so
staying logged out of my Google account should minimise my footprint.
There was no easy way to
delete my search history. Instead I had to highlight each individual search undertaken
during the past X years in order to delete it. This could be painful for a
heavy Google user - but this did provide an look back over the past
few years of my searches. Interestingly, part way through deleting the search history
a large number of deleted items re-appeared; indicating that all deleting achieves is removing the ability for me to know what my history is, rather than any actual
deletion off a server. An interesting learning point from deleting my history
was just how unmemorable most sites actually are. I’d almost go as far to say
that if you need to search for it, you probably don’t need it.
I was quite impresses on what Google
allows you to opt out of (although the interface looks designed to confuse
rather than aid). By selecting Activity
I was able to pause almost all data collection (apparently). They also allow editing
of some advertising information, such as stopping ads tailored to interests.
There was also a setting to opt out Google’s DoubleClick cookies, but this
requires downloading an app; sorry Google – I don’t trust you enough to
download this.
For me, this exercise was
about reducing the information held about me on a server somewhere. Maybe I am
missing something, but I fail to see the benefit to me of having my searches
saved. Do I believe the last hour spent deleting my digital history means my
data really has been physically deleted? No, not really. Clearly to Google this information
is about advertising, to the government it’s about building profiles on people.
But for me, this is about trust. I appreciate that sites rely on advertising
for revenue – and let’s not bite the hand that feeds, this blog is powered by
Google and we already know you don’t get anything for free. Companies spend a
lot of money on trying to build our trust with varying degrees of success. But
when companies such as Google are allowed access to NHS records[1],
if the ethics of Big Corp retaining masses of data on individuals is not
questioned, than we might as well hand over our keys and go home.
[1] http://uk.businessinsider.com/google-exec-defends-nhs-data-sharing-agreement-2016-5?op=1?r=US&IR=T
