Have you heard of Google My Activity?

Can I swear? Lets just pretend I did there. Can they do that? Is that legal?

I’m confused. So, Google redesigns their user interface to allow you to see all of your activity in one place (and opt out and delete activity), and today is your last day using Google’s services?

I’ve opted in to every possible data collection Google has to offer for years because I get value from it. I’ve been using their web history, location history, and other data collection separate pages for years.

If you are not interested in all of the data collection, why not just opt out of things you have previously opted in to? It’s in that useful site that is supposed to be terrifying or something.

@LBM It is completely legal, Microsoft does their own thing (or did their own thing) with bing where it would use your facebook account to identify your friends and their possible interests (and if THEY used bing, what they searched for regularly with bing). So then, when you did a search with bing, things relevant to what your friends were interested in would pop up along with the standard stuff the search engine would generate.

@DoNotKnowMuch I did opt out of all the options and I get zero benefit from my association with Google other than my YouTube videos I have uploaded.

^ Ok….so, what is with the “last day with Google” stuff, and how is it related to them making it easier to view, delete, and control what they collect?

My son works for Google and since he doesn’t give a damn about what I do, I figure I’m in the clear. :-).

But seriously, the fact that they are now more transparent about the data mining and allow you to opt out things, seems like an improvement to me as well. After all, we’ve long known that we are the product of all the “free” web services.

@DoNotKnowMuch It is what they collect and store in the voice section that bothers me the most. It is archived in their servers whether you want them to or not. My bad for not knowing any of this and not taking the time to read their privacy invasion policy.

^ Go visit the site and turn it off. You have to opt in. I have to choose to opt in every time I get a new Android phone. It’s a toggle switch. I’m not sure what you mean at all here. You can opt out, and delete all of your past voice data here. (MENU -> DELETE OPTIONS -> ADVANCED -> ALL TIME) Very user-friendly.

@DoNotKnowMuch I understand this and did do that, the problem I said and still have is Google records ALL voice commands, phone calls etc…..I can delete all I want and opt out all I want but Google retains a data record of ALL voice anything on their back up servers to comply with some FCC or another federal guideline. So I am kicking myself for not knowing this before hand and I do not need to use Google or Gmail THAT bad. Adios Googer.

I believe all the phone companies are obligated to do that now too but I might be wrong. Maybe you have to stop paying your taxes?

@Cruiser – This seems to be something specific that you are concerned about. Maybe you could link to the source that has triggered this. I’m still not finding any relation to Google and the My Activity page and user controls. Cite your source.

@DoNotKnowMuch It’s in their privacy statement… I don’t have anymore time to go hunting for it again.

Here is their privacy statement. I may have missed it, but I didn’t see what you are referring to.

So, to recap – you don’t have any issue with the “My Activity” page or it’s advanced controls that allow you to delete your data from Google’s servers and opt out of specific data collection. But you do have an issue with something that they are apparently collecting that you can’t find a link to.

@DoNotKnowMuch All a moot point to me…I washed my hands of Google and YouTube.

^ Fascinating

This was not scary. I got shown a page of my search history and the pages I’ve visited. Location data was nonexistent. Not that I would mind if it wasn’t.