04/07/2016
It's common knowledge in the IT industry that tech giant Google is in the business of collecting plethora of data across the web. It should be no surprise that it also collects data about you.
So what Google knows so far?
If you are using Gmail or an Android device, chances are you have a Google account. This account enables you to use Google services like, YouTube, Google Play and Maps, and activate your Android devices. At the same time, your account enables Google to "optimize" your experience such as language, timezone, and territory-related search results, by recording information such as your IP address, location, search history, or even videos watched. The data collected also includes activities in your Android device/s such as when you used your Viber, Facebook, Instagram or other Android mobile apps to name a few. The photo you see here is a sample snap of what was collected so far.
The good news to the privacy conscious is that Google is quite transparent about what data it collects from you, and has recently launched its new tool called My Activity which is found under My Account in your Google dashboard. From there, you can view or delete the data collected from you.
Although some users might feel shocked about having to see their activities being recorded, to some, this is a good sign about Google's transparency and a potential tool to check if your account (or device) is being used by someone else especially that tech-related crimes are nowadays frequent in the news.
Check yours out:
You can start here:
https://myaccount.google.com/
or go directly to:
https://history.google.com/