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How To Delete Your Data From Google's 'My Activity' (vortex.com)
Last summer Google revealed personalized data dashboards for every Google account, letting users edit (or delete) items from their search history as well as their viewing history on YouTube. Now Slashdot reader Lauren Weinstein writes:
Since posting "The Google Page That Google Haters Don't Want You to Know About" last week, I've received a bunch of messages from readers asking for help using Google's "My Activity" page to control, inspect, and/or delete their data on Google. The My Activity portal is quite comprehensive and can be used in many different ways, but to get you started I'll briefly outline how to use My Activity to delete activity data.
CNET points out you can also access the slightly-creepier "Google Maps location history" by clicking the menu icon in the upper left corner and selecting "Other Google activity." But Weinstein writes, "I have no problems with Google collecting the kinds of data that provide their advanced services, so long as I can choose when that data is collected, and I can inspect and delete it on demand. The google.com/myactivity portal provides those abilities and a lot more."
CNET points out you can also access the slightly-creepier "Google Maps location history" by clicking the menu icon in the upper left corner and selecting "Other Google activity." But Weinstein writes, "I have no problems with Google collecting the kinds of data that provide their advanced services, so long as I can choose when that data is collected, and I can inspect and delete it on demand. The google.com/myactivity portal provides those abilities and a lot more."
How deleted are the data? Are they removed from any and all backups? Are they deleted by any and all third parties the data may have been bought by or shared? Are the corresponding data removed from all 'anonymized' data dumps?
Most people, however, won't know that opportunity exists. So, only technically-knowledgeable people get the benefit.
In fact, Google is collecting HUGE amounts of data. Anyone who uses the NoScript and Disconnect add-ons can see that Google services are used by many, many web sites.
Non-routine deleted data is often the most interesting data of all.
Furthermore, most databases do not actually delete records, just flag them as "DELETED". Such records might be actually deleted/overwritten when a "Compaction" run is performed to recover space into larger blocks--if ever, might just recover LRU. How do we know what Google implements even if it not DELETED==INTERESTING?
Yes yes, Google will definitely delete the data. Of course.
(no they won't, they will just flag it as deleted)
Maybe you're talking about the feeling of deletion. Nothing will ever be deleted on Google. Be assured.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
Last summer Google introduced a dashboard forcing users of Google to a weekly complicated routine involving 20 mouseclicks and installation of an app that they can only avoid by staying logged in to their Google account. Users who do not want to go through this weekly routine are banned from using google.
Google wants to improve this dashboard in order to enhance the harassment of people who are not logged in.
But, I don't have a google account. How do I delete the data they've surely collected anyway?
No, seriously, Google actually deletes that data. Pinky promise!
Furthermore, most databases do not actually delete records, just flag them as "DELETED". Such records might be actually deleted/overwritten when a "Compaction" run is
And, even more, HBase (which is modeled after Google's BigTable) keeps everything stored with older timestamps, even if you overwrite the old record.
This feature gives you the cool ability to query "as of TimeX" (i.e. what the answer would have been yesterday). So you likely only deleting your data for the "current" queries, but not for the past ones.
You can do it from the Play Store on your Android device. Go to "My Apps and Games" then "Library".
That's why there are strict policies requiring periodic compactions for anything holding user data. (Disclaimer: yes, I work for Google.)
You honestly think anything is ever really deleted
Slashdot is not your own personal promotion platform. Get the fuck out of here, Bennett Haselton 2.0, we don't want you here.
I did this last week interestingly enough. The amount of data that Google collects will blow you away, especially the location stuff. I've purged everything from my account, even though it wasn't much data, save for some random emails. I've switched over to protonmail. I also disabled all the Google apps on my phone and removed the associated Google account from it. Only drawback is the play store won't work now. Oh well, I have all the apps I need. I only use it for texting, chess, and posting memes on a certain website that likes green frogs.
I have stopped using Google which needs any login. I got burnt few years ago. I had been using Google chat for long time and whenever I felt the conversation was confidential, I will go to "chat" folder and delete specific conversation. Few years later, I moved from iPhone to Google Nexus. I had just setup phone using my gmail id and my wife was looking through my phone. Since I had deleted anything confidential, I gave the phone to her. Apparently all the private conversion that I had with my parents, siblings and others (no affair was involved) was all there. Now, these conversation were not at accessible in browser and appeared in Google Hangout app. When I contacted Google support, they told me, I have to mark the conversation off record before beginning the conversation and there is no way to delete conversation without deleting the whole chat history. Few months later, I sold my Nexus and moved to iPhone. I have stopped using gmail and all other Google accounts.
I still use google apps anonymously. Google Search, youtube, maps are still my primary app, but no more Google accounts and for the same reasons, I don't trust Chrome browser. I only use Chrome browser for compatibility testing of my software on my company machine (no chrome on my personal machines).
First thing I did when it came out was purge any hint that I had ever viewed a WatchMojo video.
WatchMojo: server 500 error
Watch: server 500 error
Anything else: Okay!
Yeah. It literally cannot search for the word "watch". Good going Google.
"Would YOU like to no longer see your data on your account page?" Of course they still keep it and anything up until opting out will continue to be used regardless; it's too late. Anything uploaded to the Internet never completely goes away. Imagine deleting a file from your computer. Unless you wipe that file 30 times with zeros before deleting, some information can still be recovered. That's just your typical computer. Now, picture a company like Google and their data recovery tools, especially when creating files on their platforms (google docs, maps, etc.). Google turns your data into Borg. Better yet, it's figuratively shoved into a pod and uploaded to the Matrix (archives) while it's bots feed (crawl) off it.
Google services are used by many, many web sites.
That's the understatement of the month.
Virtually every significant site on the internet uses some google trackers. Furthermore, many sites requiring account creation no longer provide any way to do so that does not involve Google.
If you do not use google you are rapidly becoming a second class internet citizen.
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What about backups? And that other copy?
Actually, it's not Google Maps that that's the most creepy when it comes to location tracking: it's Google Fit.
After using the Google Takeout service the other day I noticed Fit does a LOT more fine-tuned location tracking than Maps, and I don't think there's an easy option to delete all of Fit's location data. Deleting all of Maps's location history does not affect Fit's location history.
Yeah, I guess that's the whole point of fitness tracking, but it's still creepy.
The article goes to length at a round about way to manage to delete your activity but you can just click the Delete Activity button on the left and select all time or any time period.
STOP USING GOOGLE. They're evil, screw 'em. Already switched to their competitors for everything.
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Including this one.
Have you considered trying COWS? ...moo
Data hoarders sell searches on their data sets, not the data set itself.
Yes, backups are also compacted/deleted. It's part of the policies.