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As many worry about the information that Facebook collects, due to the company’s recent user data scandal, we should not forget that Google also collects as much — if not more — of your data. Here is how to find out what the search giant knows about you.
Following Facebook’s latest user data scandal, Irish web developer and technical consultant Dylan Curran took to Twitter to explain why internet users should be equally worried about the data collected on them by Google. “Want to freak yourself out? I’m gonna show just how much of your information the likes of Facebook and Google store about you without you even realising it,” Curran tweeted.
Curran noted that Google stores your location data every time you turn on your phone:
1. https://t.co/1z255Zt1zf Google stores your location (if you have it turned on) every time you turn on your phone, and you can see a timeline from the first day you started using Google on your phone
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
2. This is every place I have been in the last twelve months in Ireland, going in so far as the time of day I was in the location and how long it took me to get to that location from my previous one pic.twitter.com/I1kB1vwntT
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Curran notes that Google actively stores every user’s search history across all devices, even if a user deletes their search history and phone history, Google collects it until the user actively goes deep into their Google account settings on every single device to delete it:
3. https://t.co/qFCgY6QLN5 Google stores search history across all your devices on a separate database, so even if you delete your search history and phone history, Google STILL stores everything until you go in and delete everything, and you have to do this on all devices
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Google, like Facebook, creates an advertising profile for each user comprised of a huge amount of personal details:
4. https://t.co/QRfgwkNj80 Google creates an advertisement profile based on your information, including your location, gender, age, hobbies, career, interests, relationship status, possible weight (need to lose 10lbs in one day?) and income
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Google also collects data on the apps that users use:
5. Google stores information on every app and extension you use, how often you use them, where you use them, and who you use them to interact with (who do you talk to on facebook, what countries are you speaking with, what time you go to sleep at) https://t.co/RJeRlXhtdq
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Google collects every user’s YouTube history and uses it to build a profile on them:
6. https://t.co/5B6qxUvrJz Google stores ALL of your YouTube history, so they know whether you’re going to be a parent soon, if you’re a conservative, if you’re a progressive, if you’re Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, if you’re feeling depressed or suicidal, if you’re anorexic…
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Curran described how users can get access to this data by visiting Google ‘Takeout’. When Curran went to download his data, he found that his personal file was 5.5 GB, or approximately 3 million Word documents, a massive increase in comparison to what Facebook collects on users. Curran’s Facebook file was 600 MB in comparison, approximately 400,000 Word documents:
7. Google offers an option to download all of the data it stores about you, I’ve requested to download it and the file is 5.5GB BIG, which is roughly 3 MILLION Word documents https://t.co/3Na4FxjNXk
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
8. https://t.co/3Na4FxjNXk This link includes your bookmarks, emails, contacts, your Google Drive files, all of the above information, your YouTube videos, the photos you’ve taken on your phone, the businesses you’ve bought from, the products you’ve bought through Google…
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
10. Facebook offers a similar option to download all your information, mine was roughly 600mb, which is roughly 400,000 Word documents
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Follow this step-by-step process to find out what Google knows about you.
Click this link, bringing you to this page:
From here, scroll down until you see the “Next” button at the bottom:
The page should load for a short minute before you see a green tick, as in the screenshot below. Then click “Create Archive:”
Google will then create an archive of your data and email you when it’s available for download:
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