Google Knows

Google is making it easier for you to find out what it knows about you.

In a blog post on Friday Google said it has redesigned its privacy and security dashboard "from the ground up" to better integrate it into other privacy controls and to make it more touchscreen-friendly.

Image Source: VC/Futurism

The main dashboard was created in 2009 and contains the "My Activity" and "My Account" tools that let you view all your Google activity, and see things like how many emails and photos you have stored.

Update

The update won't be rolling out until next week, but from the images, it looks like Google is using graphics to better itemize all the services you use, and make it clear where you spend the most time and what data is there. The current version is a bit more difficult to navigate, and requires you to go through multiple screens in order to change or view your privacy settings.

Along with the update, Google released new numbers on just how popular its privacy features are. More than 150 million people have used the My Activity feature to track down old links and videos, and "tens of millions" have used the Privacy Checkup tool to change their preferences. The "Takeout" feature lets your export your data out of Google, and has been used to export one exabyte of data since its creation in 2011.

The update doesn't by any means change the way Google follows you around the internet, but it does make it a whole lot easier to see everything the company knows about you.


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