By: Matt Agorist
Thanks to a function of their search
software, Google could have years worth of your conversations recorded, and you
can hear it for yourself. Your cringe-worthy history can be heard and viewed
along with a list of all your searches, at your personal Google history page.
The feature was built into Google’s search
function as a means of delivering accurate search results. However, the sheer
accuracy and amount of data Google stores is chilling.
The good news is that you can turn it off and
delete it, and at the end of this article, we will show you how.
As the Independent reports:
"The recordings can function as a kind of
diary, reminding you of the various places and situations that you and your
phone have been in. But it’s also a reminder of just how much information is
collected about you, and how intimate that information can be. You’ll see more
if you’ve an Android phone, which can be activated at any time just by saying
“OK, Google”. But you may well also have recordings on there whatever devices
you’ve interacted with Google using."
However, even if you don’t have an Android phone
and conduct Google searches on iDevices, Google is still listening.
When visiting your personal history page that
the web giant keeps on you, it will show you everywhere Google has a record of you being on the internet.
Of course, Google claims that this
information is never personally used against you and is done solely for the
purpose of enlightening your experience on the web. However, imagine the
ominous implications if this information was being used against you.
Google now processes over 40,000 search
queries every second on average, which translates to over 3.5 billion searches
per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide.
The data from these searches is then stored
on each individual who conducts them. Using this data or steering results in a
particular direction, the internet behemoth could effectively influence the
entire world. Aside from influence, Google could predict the future based on
trends.
Much of this search history is tied location
data retrieved from the device being used to conduct the query. So, not only
does the search engine have information on what your interests are, it has you
specific interests based on where you are at any given moment.
Google’s motto of Don’t Be Evil now seems
like less like a request for its users and more like a way of keeping
themselves in check.
Now for the good news — you can turn all of
this off.
You can start this eye-opening journey by heading to Google’s history page and looking at the long list of recordings.
The company has a specific audio page as well as their record of where you’ve been on the internet.
If you’ve never disabled the feature, you
will see a list of audio recordings, even some done outside of the Google app,
as well as a transcript of the audio Google has converted to text.
What we recommend, after you further panic by
listening to or scrolling through Google’s creepy recordings of your search
history, is to delete them all and disable the functions.
The Independent explains just how to do this:
"To delete particular files, you can click the
check box on the left and then move back to the top of the page and select
“delete”. To get rid of everything, you can press the “More” button, select
“Delete options” and then “Advanced” and click through.
The easiest way to stop Google recording
everything is to turn off the virtual assistant and never to use voice search.
But that solution also gets at the central problem of much privacy and data use
today – doing so cuts off one of the most useful things about having an Android
phone or using Google search."
Now that you know this exists quit voluntarily handing over your data to
unknown parties and share this article with your friends and family to show
them how to stop it as well.
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