Control Google's stored info. about you with Google Dashboard

Discussion in 'Software' started by mjnc, Nov 11, 2010.

  1. mjnc

    mjnc MajorGeek

    After reading the helpful thread about Keep Google From Tracking Your Every Move Online,
    I thought some people might be interested in learning how to manage the personal information
    that Google collects about your use of the many Google services such as Gmail,
    Google Maps, Youtube, etc.


    Google Dashboard gives you access to this information.

    This Google Blog page Transparency, Choice and Control explains what the Dashboard is and how to use it.

    Watch the short video at the end of the article for an explanation of what Google Dashboard is and how to use it.

    After reading the helpful thread about Keep Google From Tracking Your Every Move Online,
    I thought some people might be interested in learning how to manage the personal information
    that Google collects about your use of the many Google services such as Gmail,
    Google Maps, Youtube, etc.


    Google Dashboard gives you access to this information.

    This Google Blog page Transparency, Choice and Control explains what the Dashboard is and how to use it.

    Watch the short video at the end of the article for an explanation of what Google Dashboard is and how to use it.

    An article about Google Dashboard and Google privacy issues.

    CNN Tech: Google releases Dashboard privacy tool
     
  2. oma

    oma MajorGeek

    Sounds good but I do have a question about this Google Dashboard.

    We know that if we set preferences in Google, e.g. Search, a cookie will be set by Google. If we finish our session with our browser and delete the cookies, our preference settings will be wiped out.

    I suspect that if we have to set our preferences via Dashboard a cookie will be created? What kind of cookie will be created? If it's a LSO? cookie, that is a nasty tracking one I read.

    I really don't expect any "untracking" (new word, haha) software created by Google to not leave some sort of "track record" somewhere on our machine. ;)

    CCleaner will clean just the regular flash cookies, only CCEnhancer added to it will clean some more difficult to remove ones.

    To try out, I downloaded "Cookienator" at http://www.snapfiles.com/get/cookienator.html to remove tracking cookies. A quick look and with one click they all can be removed.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2010
  3. mjnc

    mjnc MajorGeek

    Hi Oma. :wave

    I'm not sure how to answer your questions about Dashboard cookies.
    You have to log into your Google account to access the Dashboard, so I think
    cookies are not involved. This stuff isn't stored on your computer but rather in
    Google's database. At least that's how I understand it.
     
  4. oma

    oma MajorGeek

    Don't think I have a Google account as I never signed up for G Mail etc. I'm definitely not signing up to get a Google Dashboard account if I'm not sure that they won't use the info for something else. Perhaps I've read too many articles lately about Google's behavior. :-D

    Thanks!
     
  5. mjnc

    mjnc MajorGeek

    I just realized that much of the text in my original post is duplicated duplicated. :-D
    Don't know how that happened.
    That of course was not intentional.
    I had not noticed that before. :confused

    Google Dashboard is Not a separate account but rather a feature that was
    added to enable people who Have a Google account a means to monitor information
    that is collected related to all of the Google services that one may use.
    Through Google Dashboard you can Remove that information if you wish.

    Here is an overview of Google Accounts: Basic information

    This page provides links to Google Services

    Just watch the two-and-a-half minute video at the bottom of this page to
    see what Google Dashboard does.
     
  6. oma

    oma MajorGeek

    Thanks for your explanation of the Google thingies.

    Hm, I discovered that I had signed up for a Blog some time ago and it's a Google one. Went into the Dashboard and at the end deleted my Google account since I don't have anything else running on Google. Years ago I signed up with YouTube to put a few comments in there and that was all, but that YouTube account didn't show up in the Dashboard. Got to check that out. That account was probably inactive before Google took over YouTube?

    EDIT: This is what it says on Youtube: "Update your YouTube account by linking to a Google Account". Obviously not going to do that since I already cancelled the Google account.
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2010

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