In case you didn’t know, Google is constantly collecting data on us, and you might be surprised to learn just how much they know! If like most people you use Google products like Gmail, Maps, and Google Search, your information is being gathered by the company. The longer you use Google’s products, the better a picture they can paint of you. But just how much do they know? Lots, it turns out! It’s likely that Google not only knows your name, gender, birthdate, address, phone number and browser history, but it also knows where you’ve visited, if you travelled by car, train, bus, motorcycle, or even if you walked! It knows your interests, such as your favourite music, sports teams, hobbies, the media content you engage with, where you work and what your career is, if you’re married or are a parent. It even collects and stores voice recordings from anytime you’ve used the voice activated Google Assistant!
According to Google, all this data is collected simply so that they can provide a better service to you. Your YouTube homepage is usually filled with things you find interesting right? That’s because Google has learned what you usually watch or listen to. It’s because of all this data collection that the adverts you see online are usually for things that you are likely to be interested in. There’s no point advertising children’s clothes to someone who’s not a parent after all! It’s also because of large-scale location tracking that Google Maps can let you know almost exactly how long your journey will take.
Google, by the way, doesn’t hide any of this information from you, and they ensure us that they do not sell your information to any third parties. By visiting the “Ad Settings” page on your Google account, you can view everything they know, and indeed opt out of some services. By accessing your “Timeline” in Google Maps, you can see a map of everywhere you’ve visited for as long as you’ve been as you’ve been using this app.
