Its not a coincidence that some of the most popular and useful web services available on the internet are owned and operated by Google. In true form the search engine giant is a behemoth that is trying to conquer theonline and offline world slowly and steadily.
The search engine giant might have very less physical presence, but on the internet, it is the big boss. After dominating the online ecosystem, the search giant has now forayed in physical products such as the Next thermostat and smartphone likes the Nexus 6.
Google’s main revenue comes through its online display and text advertising program called as Adsense and Adwords and in order to maintain the income through its advertising business, Google needs to know more about its customers needs, wants and preferences. Which is why it has to collect information from all the people who use its free service such as Gmail and Google plus.
We might be busy using Google’s products for free in our day to day lives, but in the background these services keep on recording whatever you search , type or do on the internet and use the recorded data to know more about your preferences. With the help of this data, Google can then display highly targeted data to you.
Now this example is just related to one person, now imagine how much data does Google must have collected on a wider scale. No doubt your data is safe in Google’s hand, but for how long, that is something even Google might be uncertain of.I have compiled a list of useful resources to give you a glimpse of how much information Google has on you.
Google Ads Preferences
While you keep on using services like Gmail and Google search for free. The Search engine giant keeps on mining data out of your inbox to get a better understanding of your preferences. Google is so good at this that it uses the data collected to create an accurate profile of you. This profile lists various information on you such as your Gender, age and interests.
Google Maps Location History
If you are a frequent Google maps user on the move, then you should be aware of the fact that Google keeps a record of all the places that you’ve visited with the help of Google maps. You can view the places you were in on a particular day from your Google Location History. The good things is, this data can be deleted manually.
Google Web History
Google keeps a record of all the searches you make on its search engine and the websites that you visit from the search results. Fortunately this feature can be tuned off from the Google Web History page.
Devices and Activity
Google keeps a record of all the devices used to login into its services and with the help of this it identifies all the devices owned by you. At the same time Google can also estimate your location with the help of your IP address. You can view a list of the devices owned by you in Devices and Activity settings.
Well these were a glimpse of the data collected by Google when you use its free services. The good thing is Google puts you in charge of most of these data as you have the ability to manually delete them if you need to do so. However nobody is sure that Google will do the same on their internal database.
