Google launches privacy Dashboard service
What does Google know about me?
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Google has launched a Dashboard service that's designed to show how much the search engine giant knows about its users online activities.
The service provides a summary of data associated with a specified Google account. Users gain the ability to view and manage data, which ranges from search engine queries and emails sent through Gmail through to videos viewed on YouTube, and much else besides. Users will usually have already consented to allow Google to keep tabs on their activities online, but the search engine giant's tentacles reach so far that it's tough to know how much information it holds on each of us.
Google Dashboard - which is designed to address privacy concerns over the search engine giant's propensity to catalogue data - is accessed by logging into a Google account. Surfers get a list of the number of items held on particular services (Calenders, Blogger, Shopper, Chat, Gmail etc. etc.) linking to the data repositories of these services for more detailed information.
Although the Dashboard service goes some way towards answering the question of what Google knows about our lives online, it doesn't really provide many clues about how Google uses this information. In addition, one thing not included in the run-down is cookie-based data Google collects via its huge online ad-serving business.
Even so, Google Dashboard holds a lot of potentially sensitive data, providing yet another good reason for users to use hard to guess (strong) passwords on their Gmail or other Google accounts.
More details on Google Dashboard can be found in a blog entry here. ®
COMMENTS
just one record for me!
and that is the video i uploaded to youtube for all to see.
Maybe, just maybe, running FF in full clean out mode (clear all private data on exit) is the key to all this stuff.
I am no teenager but i do have facebook, flickr, youtube and various other more techy based internet memberships but it is possible to run them in a way that does not share all info with the world.
If you start from the point of view that anything you post online is like sending it on a postcard to MI5 and your mum, then the web can be fairly private!
Google Doublespeak
"Google launches privacy Dashboard service" ... which ... "is accessed by logging into a Google account"
Thanks Google, that's a great example of Doublespeak.
So they want us to believe it enhances our privacy to setup an account with Google, which then allows Google to be absolutely sure every search is associated with our login details. If anything that improves Google's chances of being able to track people so its actually undermining privacy.
But then Google's favorite Doublespeak is "do no harm". Oh well in that case, I totally trust you Google. After all Google, you only want to profit by spying on us all.
Mitigation
If you use IE then at least disable any third party cookies.
If you use FF then get the Ghostery & Better Privacy Add-Ons.
As mentioned above Scroogle is a good port of call.
Also consider using IxQuick as an alternative or balance your queries between the two.
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