Unknown to most of us, Bing, Facebook and ultimately, Google tracks almost everything about us and our internet habits. Most of us don’t pay attention to these details. However, to those who have access to these details, every data about you is definitely important, especially when privacy is concerned.
These are the six things, as per record that Google tracks about us:
- YouTube Videos and Searches – If it isn’t that obvious, Google owns YouTube, which is your most favorite video streaming site. If you’re not yet disturbed, Youtube records everything, including your viewed videos and searches.
- In-market Segments – By recording your best personal interests, Google sends you advertisements that are somewhat related to it. For example, if you like to travel, Google will send you ads regarding the best places to go.
- Physical Location and Travel History – If you’re a fan of Google Location, this is self-explanatory. However, this is the real thing since Google does keep records of your real whereabouts.
- Demographic Details – Along with in-market segments, Google shares your personal information to their partner publishers. That’s the reason why your mailbox is being loaded with spam and junk mail.
- Google Searches – Unknown to you, Google keeps record of your searches whenever you use their search engines. If it is not obvious, even your ‘private browsings’ are also recorded.
- Google Voice Searches – Google voice searches, which somehow works like the normal search, is also recorded in their database.
By combining all of these collected information, Google can now target you with lots of advertisements, along with contents depending on what it knows about you.
How can we stop Google from doing these things to us? Nowadays, you can set what Google tracks about you in Activity Controls options in your account page (where you can pause the things you don’t want them tracking about you). Take note that there’s no disable feature, meaning that Google can just turn it on once you don’t pay attention to it.