Tech | November 29, 2007 | 20 comments

Google knows everything there is to know about you

source: http://www.google.com/history

Image
phillyharper
I've just noticed this handy little feature. If you ever want to sell yourself to the devil and don't know where to find your most personal data, just head over to Google.com/history where you'll find everything precious to you stored neatly and efficiently.

Google know every single search query you've ever pumped into their magical little box, and the information they have is identifiable to you personally. I for example have been "on record" since January 2006 when I signed away my life for a gmail account. During that time Google have learned more about me than I have.

They know when I surf the most, what time of day is peak surfing time, what day of the week is peak surf time, they know what my favorite sites are, they know what my favorite search queries are, they know it all! More over its even posted on a nice neat little graph, including "Top Sites" "Top Clicks" and "Top Queries".

http://www.google.com/history/trends

I have to admit that upon my discovery of this "feature" I immediately felt a little naked, as if I'd just been mugged in the street for the clothes I stand up in and even my soul (in a digital .xls format).

Anyone else a little concerned by this?
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20 comments // Google knows everything there is to know about you

  • Inofuilwell
    • 0
      Inofuilwell  

    • *****"It is amazing that we have to rely on private industry to fight our thug government."******

      That would be a faint hope, SanFrancisco. It's more like two different gangs of thugs fighting over who owns each of us.

      Trusting Corporations is like picking a different flavor of Kool-Aid. Remember Mussolini said the most sustainable form of Fascism is when government merges with big business to control a country.

    • 4 years ago
  • notonourwatch
    • 0
      notonourwatch  

    • It is legal because there is currently no law against it as relates to the internet. And in order to have a law against it one needs to take Google to court on some claim that, in this case, would likely have to do with 'right to privacy' laws already on the books for other industries. The reason ATT is under litigation is that they likely have already broken privacy laws on the books for their industry by handing over access to the feds. By the way, the reason Google wants to track our internet access trails is so they can assure companies that buy advertising from them can send to you ads that would likely be of interest to you. It's all in the name of getting us to buy more - after all is that not what we're all about. What we are prompted to do after any tragedy - aka 9/11.

    • 4 years ago
  • covelogibbs
    • 0
      covelogibbs  

    • If you clear your entire web history, it automatically pauses the web history feature.

      Thanks for this post phillyharper, I had no idea.

      But, does clearing my web history delete it just for me or Google too? Who knows?

      I still love Google and Gmail and earth and translate and apps, and...etc., etc.

    • 4 years ago
  • stardate
    • 0
      stardate  

    • How in the world can this be legal?

      I cleared the whole thing and deleted the "service" (nice euphemism, haha).

      They don't have the freaking right to store this info.
      I didn't even know about this feature before I learned about it on Current and I've been a Google addict for years.

    • 4 years ago
  • Marilynn_Murray
  • elissa_D
  • Marilynn_Murray
  • Marilynn_Murray
  • AngelinaH
    • 0
      AngelinaH  

    • CREEPY. I'm sorry, but I don't want to be tracked. I don't know what Google's excuse for this is. As for the government's excuse, "homeland security", FUCK IT. I'd rather DIE FREE. Excuse my language, but this is ridiculous. No gmail for me, thank god, but I know that won't stop them. I'm gonna go look for some red flag sites to browse. If you never hear from me again, you know what happened...

    • 4 years ago
  • csuspect
    • 0
      csuspect  
    • Image

    • @rob1964 Yeah, there is more data mining going on that you can shake a stick at. Hell, look at AT&T and the NSA (see the link). I don't see AT&T allowing you to delete their call history though, like Google does. (Or, perhaps that's a ruse.) You can never be sure.

    • 4 years ago
  • jade_azul16
  • SanFrancisco
    • 0
      SanFrancisco  

    • Jade_azul16 wrote: "Good thing i don't have a google account..."

      Yahoo is currently settling a lawsuit after helping China jail two dissident journalists, AT&T is being sued for collaborating with the NSA over our governments illegal eavesdropping...

      Google forced the NSA to go to court to get a legal warrant. Amazon was just in the news for forcing the FBI to get a warrant - which the government lost after a judge rejected the request.

      It is amazing that we have to rely on private industry to fight our thug government.

    • 4 years ago
  • richjm
    • 0
      richjm  
    • Image

    • On the one hand, I love how Google keep rolling stuff out and aren't afraid to dip their toes in every pool of the internet.

      On the other hand, and this hand is great-big-foam-sized in comparisson, things like this do make me grow warier of them. As a big user of Google search and Gmail, I don't feel the need to see my history. That information is far less important to me than it is to advertisers and Google targeted ads. Presenting it in some nice graphs doesn't dilute the fact that this sort of information about users is worth a lot of money now, yet it's given away by the user for free.

    • 4 years ago
  • jade_azul16
  • snapsforkara
  • jcmoisan
  • csuspect
  • SanFrancisco
    • 0
      SanFrancisco  

    • I tried it and it says information temporarily not available. I have had gmail for at least a year or possibly two years. It states that I do not have much of a history yet. Maybe I have some option clicked off?

    • 4 years ago
  • sgwhites
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