Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem - … · Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem...
Transcript of Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem - … · Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem...
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Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem
This guide is a continuation to our blog post ‘Privacy in the Google Ecosystem’ that talks of
why you need to care about your privacy if you use any of Google’s products. This tells you –
in a step-by-step manner -how to turn on the various settings in your Google accounts to
make the most of the privacy options that Google provides you.
Note:
- This guide uses a number of screenshots from Google. Do note that the screens may differ
based on user, OS, browser, and location. So the screenshots presented in this guide may
not be exactly as those that you see on your screen. There may be a slight variance.
- Various privacy related pages of Google can be reached in multiple ways. We have
presented only one such approach. You may find other ways too.
- Disclaimer: This document addresses the MAIN concerns around privacy and how they can
be handled. It does not purport to be a COMPREHENSIVE privacy guide.
To maximize your privacy with Google where possible, you need to basically manage two key
aspects:
A. The information that Google stores about you
B. The information that Google shares about you with external (non-Google) entities
A. Information That Google Stores About You
Let us begin by first checking what information about you Google has already stored.
To do this, sign into your Google account using any of the Google applications that you use
(for eg, Gmail)
Once you have signed in you will see your icon on the top
right corner. Usually, Google uses the first letter of your
name. For eg, if you are Rohan, you will most likely see an
‘R’, like in the screenshot on the right:
When you click on the ‘R’, the following screen pops up:
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Click on ‘My Account’. Takes you to your account settings screen as below:
Click on ‘personal info’. The following screen comes up where you can see all the personal
info that you have filled in. We have marked out which of this info is mandatory and which is
not. Think very carefully before you provide the info that is not mandatory.
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Our Recommendation:
- DO provide a recovery email and phone – they help in letting Google provide you
enhanced security services.
- Under ‘About me’, minimize what info you provide and what others can see about
you. For eg, avoid stating your gender, do not display year of birth and don’t provide
any other data.
- Do NOT share your location
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Privacy Checkup
Next use the ‘Privacy Checkup’ facility provided by Google.
Go to: My Account > Personal info and Privacy > Privacy Checkup and click on ‘Get Started’:
You will now see a screen as below:
The following screen comes up where you can see and edit not only what others see about
you but also what information Google stores about you:
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Our Recommendation for the above settings:
Web & App Activity – Disable. When you do this, Google stops recording these
activities of yours.
Youtube Search History – Disable. When you do this, Google stops recording what you
search on YouTube
Youtube Watch History – Disable. When you do this, Google stops recording what you
watch on YouTube
Location History – Disable. When you do this, Google stops tracking your location.
Note that disabling this means you will stop getting location-specific ads or search
results.
Device Information – Keep it ON. Disabling this tracking will stop Google from tracking
your devices. It is advisable to have this active so that you can check if a new unknown
device logs into your account.
Voice & Audio Activity – Disable. When you do this, Google stops from using your
Voice & Audio activity to fine-tune results.
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The section below shows you how the above is done:
Turn off the switches highlighted above.
For e.g., when you turn off the switch for Web & App activity, the following screen comes up:
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When you click on Pause, that particular activity or history will get listed into the disabled list
(as shown in the screenshot below):
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Next we move on to the Ads section as below:
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Once you are done with this you will see the following screen:
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Security Checkup
Next, we move on to doing a ‘Security Checkup’.
Click on ‘Visit Security Checkup’.
Google asks you to check your recovery information. It asks you to feed in a mobile number
and an alternate email ID if you have not already done so. If you have, it asks you to review
these details. Check out the screenshot below:
Next, move to checking on all your connected devices. Here you can check and confirm if they
are indeed your own devices that are signed in and accessing your Google account – and not
some rogue or unknown devices. In the screenshot below, the user uses a Mac and an iPhone
to access Google:
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For additional information, click on the drop down arrow and you can see when this device
was accessed and from which location too. For e.g.:
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If you think that something looks suspicious, then click on ‘Something looks wrong’ and
Google will ask you to change your password. If it looks fine, then click on ‘Looks good’ and
move ahead.
Next Google takes you to check your account permissions. This is important as this is where
you can see which Google apps and 3rd Party Apps access your Google Account information.
There is also a description of what the apps have access to. If you click on the dropdown arrow
next to each app, you will see details of the access that the app has (see screenshot below)
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If you see a Google App or a 3rd Party App that you don’t recognize or don’t want to share
information with, then just click on ‘Remove’. Google will stop sharing information with that
App.
How to remove data that Google has collected until now?
1. In your ‘My Account’ screen go to my activity as show in the screenshot below
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2. This would show all your activity that is getting stored with Google. Now if you want
to delete the data for all activity so that all your information is private, click on Delete
activity by (see screenshot below)
3. On the screen that comes up you can delete the activity for a fixed period or for all
time - which means your entire history will be deleted. You can also select which
activity you want to delete, either a selected activity or all activities (see screenshot
below)
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4. Now, for example, if you want to delete all history for Ads. Then select product from
the drop down and select the duration to be deleted
5. Google will ask you to reconfirm (see screenshot below)
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6. Click Delete and you are done.
Further on in this guide, we discuss in detail about third party apps and what info google
shares with them
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B. The information that Google shares about you with external (non-Google) entities
The above demonstrates what apps have access to what information about you.
But how did they get granted in the first place? To help you understand this better, we took
a few sample applications with varied permissions but before that what are the different
types of permission?
On the Apps connected to your account page, you can see a list of sites and applications.
These are sites and applications to which you’ve granted permission to access your Google
Account, and you can see on this list to what parts of your account they have access.
For example, you might have downloaded an app that helps you schedule workouts with
friends. This application might have requested access to your Google Calendar and Contacts
to suggest times and friends for you to meet up with.
There are several levels of access an application can have to your Google Account, but here
are few examples:
Full Account access: When you grant full Account access, the application can see and
modify nearly all information in your Google Account (but it can’t change your
password, delete your Account, or pay with Google Wallet on your behalf). Certain
Google applications may be listed under full Account access. For example, you might
see that the Google Maps application you downloaded for your iPhone has full
Account access.
View your basic profile information: These apps have access to basic data from
your Account, like your name, email, gender, or country. You might also see
that the app can "Sign you in using your Google Account." That means that you
can sign in to these apps with your Google username and password as long as
you’re signed in to Google, saving you the hassle of remembering new
passwords or creating a new Account.
Read and write access: Permissions for some apps and sites might include read
and write access, which means that they can post information about your
activity on their app or site to Google products you use. For example, you have
an app on your phone that lets you track how far you run. If this app has read
and write access to Google+, it can post the number of KMs you run to your
Google+ page.
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Limited Access: Eg: Truecaller
Truecaller is an app which helps to search & identify any phone number, block unwanted calls
or hidden numbers, make calls and see when your friends are available. When you install
Truecaller on your Android phone, it asks you to give it access to your Google Account (see
screenshot below)
When you sign in with your Google Account, it asks for access to some of your information
(as below):
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So what do all these three mean?
View your email address: Truecaller can view the email address associated with your
Account
View your basic profile info: Truecaller can view your full name, profile picture and
profile URL. Also access to any publicly available information on your Google+ profile
(if you have one or create one in the future)
Manage your contacts – Truecaller can view and manage your Google contacts
Once you allow this Truecaller will start getting listed as one of the applications getting access
to your information in your Google Account (see screenshot below).
Full Access: Chrome Browser
Chrome is a web browser from Google. When you sign into Chrome it automatically is granted
full access to your Google Account once you sign in with your Google Account. (see
screenshots below)
1. As soon as you download and open Google Chrome, you see the following screen:
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2. Once you Accept & Continue it asks you to sign in:
3. Once you sign in it tells you what Chrome will use this for:
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4. If you go to your Google Account settings > Apps connected to your account > Manage
Apps – you will see that Chrome has full access to your Google Account
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TIP: As a best practice do not allow apps to have full access to your Google Account.
Note: We’d love to get your feedback. Mail us at [email protected]
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