The tech giant Google is changing the default settings to automatically delete the collected data of its users. Website search, page visited and location data including users’ web and app activity will now be automatically deleted from Google servers after 18 months.
Currently this change only applies to new accounts, but existing users can be provided with the facility to change their settings soon. However, the company announced that when other technology companies are facing many big investigations regarding data collection efforts and business practice.
The announcement comes as Google and other big technology companies’ data-collection efforts and business practices face increased scrutiny.
Google is in controversy over monitoring of search
- The Wall Street Journal reported in its report that the US Justice Department is scheduled to discuss with state attorneys this weekend to sentence him to Google’s anti-competitive behavior, accusing Google of doing an online search Has misused its influence.
- On Tuesday, a German court banned Facebook from collecting data about local users, raising concerns that the company was misusing its good position among social networking.
Auto-delete control introduced in 2019
- Google introduced auto-delete control in May 2019 to force users to regularly truncate logs collected about them by the company, but at that time it was created an opt-in option. The American technology company uses these information gathered to target advertisements, along with personal recommendations and search results.
YouTube will keep the record for a long time
- Google’s product manager David Monsey said – We know that information makes our product helpful, but data minimization is one of our important privacy principals and Google will no longer have activity indefinitely.
- Google said that it wants to keep YouTube records longer than other Internet activities, as it will help to do things like make music recommendations, which requires a longer search history.
- He further stated that the auto-wipe policy will not apply to photos, Gmail and its drives connected to the cloud-storage facility, as these advertisements are not used for related purposes.
- The company has justified its decision not to apply the changes to the existing account on the basis that it does not want to lose people by erasing “curated” data without permission, and also pointed out that all users will be able to change the auto-wipe Can be set for three months only. However, this means that this change will affect fewer people than it can be.
Guided tips will also be given to long time users
- Long time users will be affected in other ways, though they will also be shown new ‘Guided Tips’. For example if someone uses Google search to find out if their account is secure, a box will show their settings and also show them how to adjust it.
- For example, if a user shares the location of their handset with a friend, they will be reminded later that the permission is still active and asked if they want to turn it off.
We made incognito mode easier – Google
- Google said that it has made Incognito mode “easier to access” in its apps (a setting that does not collect data) allowing users to continue searching by hiding their information.
Many people are comfortable with the information kept with Google
- “Many people are uncomfortable with the information put by Google,” said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group. These signs may mean that people can ignore many things. Google should make sure that everyone has given a clear indication of whether they want their history to be collected, rather than erasing their information that they have already read half.
