Should I get vaccinated? Is Marijuana Addictive? What to do with severe depression
Millions of people type these and similar questions into the Google search mask every day. Google often helps even with the most personal questions and does not even ask for money. Users have to pay with a different currency: with their data.
With each entry, Google learns a little more about us. Each search query is a data point that helps Google show us more targeted ads. This business model has made Google one of the most valuable companies in the world.
However, Google does not only collect data via its search engine. Google Chrome is the market leader among browsers, YouTube among video platforms, Android the most used smartphone operating system, and Gmail the most used e-mail provider. “Google is omnipresent,” says data protection expert Klaudia Zotzmann-Koch, who is involved with the Chaos Computer Club and has written a book on data security. “You hardly have a chance to avoid it.”
However, anyone who has a Google account can find out with a few clicks what data Google collects and stores about him or her. To do this, you must first log into your Google account and visit the website “My Google Activities“. If the check mark is ticked under “Web & app activity”, Google collects, for example, all search queries and many activities on Google websites, for example which ads you click on. “My Google activities” is also on the Page to see if Google is tracking location and Youtube history.
The data stored by Google can be viewed using the “Google Takeout“. About 50 different products are listed there that may collect data. Here you can choose which products you want to view your data from. One of the most interesting points is “My Activities”. There are – if you have allowed Google to collect data – All search histories (e.g. from Google search, Youtube or the places and routes you are looking for in Google Maps) are saved. Once you have selected the desired products, you can request the export of your own data below. Within a few minutes, an e- Mail arrives in the mailbox with which you are registered with Google.This mail contains a link with which you can download your data.
After the download, the data is in a folder whose name starts with “Takeout”. For example, to see Google search history, first open that folder and then open the folders my activities and Google search click. In the folder Google search there is a file named MyActivities.html. This file contains all saved Google searches. It can be opened with any browser. The data of the other Google products can be found in the other folders.
It is unclear whether Google may store more data than that which can be downloaded via the takeout tool. The tech group Oracle, for example, threw Google in a 2019 report proposes that Takeout “omit entire categories of other data that Google collects,” including interactions on websites, data from motion sensors on Android phones, and tags from emails. Google saves this data in so-called “shadow profiles” – even from those people who do not have a Google account.
A Google spokesperson said: “This report was part of Oracle’s long-standing campaign against Android, and many of the claims it makes are inaccurate and misleading.” Anyone who believes that Google collects data that does not appear in the Takeout tool can use this data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) via an additional form apply for.
However, if you use this form and ask for all personal data to be sent, you will get the answer in a test attempt: Due to the size and complexity of Google, you should also specify when the data was collected and which products it relates to relate So you have to know what data Google could actually store in order to find out whether it is actually stored – additional research effort that makes the right to information according to the GDPR more difficult.
This article belongs to the topic “Google’s Treasure”. All research and links to additional articles can be found here: sz.de/GooglesSchatz