The presence of advertisements that are tailor made to one’s interests feels strange or even creepy, and now that creepiness is set to expand.
Google’s big change
Amid all the recent talk surrounding online privacy in Canada, Google has announced it is dramatically changing its privacy policy. In a nutshell, the important changes include integrating a user’s search history with other services such as Gmail and YouTube in an effort to deliver more ‘individualized’ online products and advertising. The Center for Digital Democracy, an online privacy advocate, has filed a complaint with the FCC regarding these changes.
Google’s changes may improve online services for many consumers, however, for those who have reservations about the new policy three simple steps can be taken to remove pre-March 1, 2012 history and suspend its collection.
Steps
- Go to www.google.com/history and sign into your account.
- Click “remove web history.
- When prompted by “Are you sure you want to clear your entire web history? Your web history will also be paused” click “okay”.
One’s search history will be removed and its collection suspended, however, Google will still continue to collect history for its own internal records and these records may be within the reach of law enforcement in certain circumstances. Taking these small steps may well be only a minor respite for individual internet users engulfed in the torrent of voyeuristic internet advertising.