Clearing your Google history before March 1, 2012

[allergyboy2001]

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/how-remove-your-google-search-history-googles-new-privacy-policy-takes-effect

If you have a Google-related account (Google Plus, Youtube, etc.), this link explains how to clear the history of any Google web searching that you did while logged into one of these accounts, searching that you may have thought was anonymous.

In my understanding, on March 1, Google will merge any information it has about your (logged-in) web searches, with information it has on you from your other accounts (accounts that may use your real name) -- and all of this could be sold to advertisers for targeted advertising.

Clearing your search history will also pause any recording of your searching in the future, unless you re-authorize it.

[Chanel_no5]

Thanks for the heads up!

I removed my Google account altogether. It's just not worth it anymore, the way they try to take over the world gives me bad vibes. *shudders*

[Jorm]

I'm gonna go ahead and sound really stupid now, but what's the big concern with them combining the info they have?

[Pearlised]

Thanks for posting this!!!

[Bondi]

They can combine whatever information they want; what I don't like is the whole selling to advertising thing they want to do.

[Jorm]

They can combine whatever information they want; what I don't like is the whole selling to advertising thing they want to do.

But that's likely to happen regardless of how they combine information isn't it? Everyone selling what they have on people these days.

[Shay]

Thanks for the info. While I do have a gmail account, it looks like I didn't have anything to worry about. I went to page that site told me to go to and the only options it gave me were "No Thanks" and "Turn Web History On". It looks like web history was never turned on for me in the first place, so I just clicked on the no thanks option and that was it.

[Marshmallow Peep]

I'm fine with what Google is doing, actually (feel free to toss pancakes at me for saying this). There are millions of people who use Google and there's only a very small amount of people they'd use for information sales. These people are probably YouTube stars or authors and such. I doubt any information about me could be something anyone would really want enough for money (for most things, they could just ask if they want info that badly)

[allergyboy2001]

The way I understand it, it's more an issue of the targeted advertising that they might do towards individual users. Just to use a worst-case scenario, if a person had searched for "sneezing fetish" repeatedly on YouTube, there might be ads for allergy meds or even fetish stuff on the Google search page, even if your search terms at the moment are different -- because now all the information that Google has on you has been combined and cross-referenced. On a shared computer, this might raise some awkward questions -- "what websites have you been visiting??!!"

For this to actually happen, you would probably have to be logged into one of your Google accounts at the time that you do the web search. But a lot of people stay logged in to their YouTube accounts all the time, to have easy access to their favorites.

It might be overblown, but I generally feel a person can't do enough to protect his or her privacy.

[Jorm]

The way I understand it, it's more an issue of the targeted advertising that they might do towards individual users. Just to use a worst-case scenario, if a person had searched for "sneezing fetish" repeatedly on YouTube, there might be ads for allergy meds or even fetish stuff on the Google search page, even if your search terms at the moment are different

This already happens anyway though. Or maybe it just happens to me, which is disturbing....

[Kiwifruit]

Nah, it happens to me too Ouro. Also beware people, it doesn't need to be a shared computer apparently, just a shared connection xP I noticed one day after Youtubing sneeze vids then went to use the family computer upstairs...guess what the recommendations were xP Simply deleting those particular vids from the history on my laptop seems to resolve that though, I don't even have to clear the cache or anything...

[Chanel_no5]

I'm just a bit wary of Google lately, that's all. It's probably just me being my usual suspicious self, but yeah.

[JenJen]

I can do a search for a photo of a couch for a drawing reference, and suddenly all my ads become about buying furniture. I've pretty much accepted that Big Boss Internet uses my search info to gear advertisements to my tastes. It's just a fact of life. If someone values their privacy, the only way to make sure that privacy remains intact is to keep off the internet completely.

[Just Older]

It seems that I deleted and paused my search history quite some time ago. Each time a new verison of Google/Facebook pops up, I go through and change security features and functions.

I know that we are being watched online. Especially at work and school (either directly or indirectly). Yes, while being called out on some of the things I search for can be embarassing, I know there are stranger or more threatning people out there. I am not concerned about having ads pop up, because there is advertisement everywhere else in life anyways.

[Lynne]

I'm gonna go ahead and sound really stupid now, but what's the big concern with them combining the info they have?

Yeah, that's kind of my feeling about it. I don't care if they know what kind of toothpaste I use and which night my kids have swim classes. Big freaking deal

[March Hare]

Well, anybody might see that you, [insert your actual real name here], have been looking up all sorts of sneeze-related trivia and pix and vids online. If, that is, you have even one Google-account which uses your real name.

Other than that, no, not a big deal at all.

[obsessed]

Thanks for sharing! Luckily nothing sketchy has popped up in my history