Skip to main content

Google Will now auto-delete location and search history by default for new users.


On Wednesday, Google announced broad changes in its default data practices for new users, including a significant expansion in the company’s willingness to automatically delete data.

In a blog post announcing the changes, CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized the company’s commitment to privacy, security, and user choice. “As we design our products, we focus on three important principles: keeping your information safe, treating it responsibly, and putting you in control,” Pichai wrote. “Today, we are announcing privacy improvements to help do that.”

Google’s auto-delete feature applies to search history (on web or in-app), location history, and voice commands collected through the Google Assistant or devices like Google Home. Google logs that data in its My Activity page, where users can see what data points have been collected and manually delete specific items. Historically, Google has retained that information indefinitely, but in 2019, the company rolled out a way to automatically delete data points after three months or 18 months, depending on the chosen setting.

Starting today, those settings will be on by default for new users. Google will set web and app searches to auto-delete after 18 months even if users take no action at all. Google’s location history is off by default, but when users turn it on, it will also default to an 18-month deletion schedule.


The new defaults will only apply to new users, and existing Google accounts won’t see any settings change. However, Google will also be promoting the option on the search page and on YouTube in an effort to drive more users to examine their auto-delete settings. Auto-delete can be turned on from the Activity Controls page.

The system also extends to YouTube history, although the default will be set to three years to ensure the broader data can be used by the platform’s recommendation algorithms.

In some ways, the new settings represent a compromise between the privacy interests of users and Google’s business interests as an ad network. A user’s most recent data is also the most valuable since it can be used to target people who have recently engaged with a particular product. By keeping the last 18 months of activity, Google is able to retain most of that ad value while also deleting most of the data that would otherwise be available.

Alongside the new default settings, Google will also make it easier for users use Chrome’s Incognito mode, allowing mobile users to switch to Incognito mode with a long-press on their profile picture. The feature launches today on iOS and will soon come to Android and other platforms

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Neuralink: Elon Musk unveils pig with chip in its brain

  Elon Musk has unveiled a pig called Gertrude with a coin-sized computer chip in her brain to demonstrate his ambitious plans to create a working brain-to-machine interface. "It's kind of like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires," the billionaire entrepreneur said on a webcast. His start-up Neuralink applied to launch human trials last year. The interface could allow people with neurological conditions to control phones or computers with their minds. Mr.Musk argues such chips could eventually be used to help cure conditions such as dementia, Parkinson's disease, and spinal cord injuries. But the long-term ambition is to usher in an age of what Mr.Musk calls "superhuman cognition", in part to combat artificial intelligence so powerful he says it could destroy the human race. Elon Musk reveals brain-hacking plans Gertrude was one of three pigs in pens that took part in Friday's webcast demo. She took a while to get going, but when she ate and sniffed ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Microsoft to Phase out Support for legacy browser Internet Explorer in Upcoming year

From the upcoming year, Microsoft 365 apps and services will no longer support Internet Explorer. Microsoft is bidding farewell to Internet Explorer 11 as well as Microsoft Edge Legacy. The company will be withdrawing support for the browser in a phased manner. Starting November 30, the Microsoft Teams web app will no longer support Internet Explorer 11. By August 17, 2021, the browser will no longer be supported by the remaining Microsoft 365 apps and services. Meanwhile, it is also ending support for the Microsoft Edge Legacy desktop app on March 9, 2021. After this date, the desktop app will no longer receive new security updates. Microsoft has reportedly been planning to cut support for the Internet Explorer brand for quite some time now, a move which first became apparent in 2015 with the company rolling out the new Edge browser under the codename 'Project Spartan'.
Post a Comment
Read more

Apple iPhone 12 series to launch in October!!!

As Apple confirmed that its upcoming iPhone 12 series would not launch in September, the iPhone maker is now said to hold the launch event in October. The India availability of new iPhone models in India happens typically a week after they become available in the US.  It should be noted that several industry analysts had earlier predicted that the iPhone models launching in 2020 would get delayed. The tech giant has not specified further details about the delay in the launch. However, Apple's announcement came soon after global chip making giant Qualcomm indicated at a brief delay in the launch of the iPhone 12 line up that could comprise four new models. Akash Palkhiwala, Qualcomm CFO had suggested the delay and said: “a slight delay that pushes some of the units out from the September quarter to the December quarter for us.” iPhone 12 range will be announced on the week commencing October 12 (which might mean an announcement on Tuesday, October 13, since Apple often unveils thin...
Post a Comment
Read more