{"id":51453,"date":"2016-07-25T09:05:30","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T16:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mcafee.com\/?p=51453"},"modified":"2025-08-15T03:32:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T10:32:40","slug":"google-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/privacy-identity-protection\/google-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Improve Your Google Account Privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog was written by Bruce Snell.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a number of questions come in lately via email, social media and even in the waiting room at my doctor\u2019s office about the notifications people have been getting from Google about some \u201cnew features for your Google Account.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot of people will most likely default to the \u201cclick ok\u201d response.\u00a0 You know the response I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0 It\u2019s that one you get anytime you see an \u201cAre you sure?\u201d pop-up when installing software or applying an update.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ve all been guilty of blindly clicking \u201cok,\u201d but in this situation, it is worth taking the time to look a little bit further into what clicking \u201cok\u201d means.<\/p>\n

What information does Google collect?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You probably use Google more than you think. \u00a0When I lived in Japan, the routing information provided by Google Maps helped me get wherever I needed when navigating the complex Tokyo metro system.\u00a0\u00a0 I switched over to Gmail back when you needed an invite and haven\u2019t looked back.\u00a0 YouTube videos of Aikido demonstrations<\/a>, cute animals and dancing Storm Troopers<\/a> regularly play in my house.\u00a0 All of these things we regularly enjoy, without paying a cent.\u00a0 Have you ever stopped to wonder how Google can afford to provide so many services for free?\u00a0 Ads.\u00a0 At a basic level, Google is able to provide these services due to revenue they generate by selling ad space.\u00a0 So how does this relate to you?\u00a0 What makes Google so successful is that they can offer very targeted groups for advertisers.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a company that makes left handed wall stretchers in Hoboken.\u00a0 With the information that Google collects, they can make sure that your wall-stretcher is seen by every left-handed person in the tristate area when they surf the web.\u00a0 Google does this by collecting personal data about you when you use one of their services.\u00a0 They do provide a much more in-depth data on their privacy page<\/a>, but I\u2019ll hit the highlights for you here.<\/p>\n

Google breaks down their collection methods in the following manner:<\/p>\n

Information you give<\/strong>. This is information you provide Google directly by typing it in yourself.\u00a0 This can be very sensitive information like:<\/p>\n