Google this
If you’ve visited the Google homepage or used any Google service like YouTube recently, (and let’s face it, you have) you’re bound to have seen the largish banner proclaiming their revamped set of privacy terms and coercing you to take a look. And like a lot of people, you just might have chosen to skip it. Trust me, you don’t want to be doing that again.
Cutting the long story short, here’s what they have to say. As long as you’re logged on to your Google account in your browser, the company will collect and compartmentalise data about your usage across all its services. This includes data you give while registering your account in the first place, data from cookies, Web and video searches, location check-ins, and information about the devices and software you use to access any of its services.
This is partly to provide targeted, more relevant ads to you, but it sounds like a serious encroachment of your privacy. Think about it. Every single time you type in that slightly embarrassing or private thing into your Chrome omnibox or YouTube search bar and press Enter, Google will know. And what’s worse, Google will remember. Over time, each user will have associated with them, a list of traits predicted by algorithms based on search trends. Your own algorithmically generated baseball card, which is only as true as the information you chose to share with it. And here’s when it gets really messed up. The next time you get served that weird ad that your disconcerting search had to do with, Google will remind you that it knows and remembers.
It’s still simple to keep yourself cocooned from the Goliath while still reaping all the benefits of the garden it maintains, though. Don’t stay logged on to your Google account unless it is absolutely imperative. Use a makeshift Google ID with fake information to access services like YouTube to avoid being tracked. Better still, use an ad blocking extension like AdBlocker Plus (available on both Firefox and Chrome) to eschew ads altogether. You’re only as safe on the Web as you wish to be. Just wish to be very, very safe.
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