Sarah Schmidt
Sun
Google Inc. on Thursday launched new privacy controls so users can see the reams of personal information the Internet giant is storing about them and insist the data are deleted if they want.
People who have signed up for any of Google’s consumer services, such as Gmail, Blogger, YouTube and Picasa, are now able to use a new service called Google Dashboard, where they can log into a console and see all the personal data Google stores about them.
For example, Google’s Gmail system saves old sent and received e-mails, as well as e-mail drafts, attachments and chat messages. And Google’s web history feature saves online searches if the user has turned on the function.
The service allows users to peruse the information and edit or delete it. Users can also readjust privacy settings to limit Google’s ability to retain old data.
The move to tighten privacy controls comes amid concerns over online footprints and the use of behavioural marketing, which allows companies like Google to target ads to people by tracking online activities. Privacy watchdogs zeroed in on Google because of its clout in the marketplace.
There are more than a billion searches for information daily on Google, making up 65 per cent of the online search market and more than triple that of Yahoo, its closest competitor.
In Canada alone, there were over 21.6 million unique visitors using Google searches in September, nearly 10.8 million using Google Maps and 4.7 million using Gmail, according to ComScore, Inc., a research company specializing in the digital world.
Jonathan Lister, head of Google Canada, says the new initiative is all about enhancing two priorities for the company — improving transparency and control for Google users.
“We try to offer both of those things, both transparency into the data that Google has captured about people and them giving them control over it — so the ability to opt out, the ability to manipulate that data or customize it so that it’s more useful to them and the products become more useful to them,” Lister said.
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