• Home
  • About Off The Grid
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
Off The Grid News
Home Privacy

Working Around Google’s March 1st Privacy Changes

by Tim George
in Privacy, Top Headline
Print Print
Working Around Google’s March 1st Privacy Changes
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on TruthEmail Article

Google’s announced intention to track the activities of users across almost all of its holdings will take effect on March 1, 2012!  Users of YouTube, Gmail, and Google Search will not have the option of opting out. It will apply to all of its services with the exception of Google Wallet, Google Books, and the Chrome web browser.

Google promises added benefits to its users and a simplification of its privacy policy. Privacy advocates, on the other hand, believe the changes not only are an invasion of privacy but will invite further intrusion by the federal government.

Google has been quietly collecting most of this information for quite a while. But now, for the first time, it is combining data from across its varied sites to create a unified portrait of its users. The changes take place on March 1st and users will not be able to decline the tracking.

Google says the changes will enable it to better tailor its ads to individual users’ tastes. It also argues the privacy changes will be of great benefit to users of its sites. Google’s director of privacy for product and engineering, Alma Whitten, wrote in a blog post, “If you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.”

Industry insiders believe Google is making the move to stave off stiff completion from Apple and Facebook. Both giants have been very successful at building a consolidated approach to gathering information in order to capture people’s attention. Up till now, Google has had a fairly decentralized approach to information gathering.

Consumer advocates, however, paint a far different picture of Google’s changes. Common Sense Media chief executive, James Steyer noted, “Google’s new privacy announcement is frustrating and a little frightening. Even if the company believes that tracking users across all platforms improves their services, consumers should still have the option to opt out — especially the kids and teens who are avid users of YouTube, Gmail and Google Search.”

What users may not realize is that tracking runs much deeper than when using one’s personal computer. Google can gather information about users when they activate an Android mobile phone, enter search terms, or sign into their accounts online. Unless users disable cookies on their computer, Google can also see which Web sites users visit or use its maps program to estimate their location.

A number of lawmakers and consumer advocates remain skeptical of Google’s intentions. “There is no way anyone expected this,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “There is no way a user can comprehend the implication of Google collecting across platforms for information about your health, political opinions and financial concerns.” The co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) agrees: “It is imperative that users will be able to decide whether they want their information shared across the spectrum of Google’s offerings.”

While there will be no way to opt-out of the March 1st changes, there is a way to protect your information.

How to remove all items from your Web History and stop your Web History from being recorded in the future:

Step 1: Sign into your Google Account

Step 2: Go to https://google.com/history

Step 3: Click “remove all web history”

Step 4: Click “OK”

IMPORTANT: Removing your Web History also pauses it. Web History will remain off until you enable it again. Disabling Web History in your Google account will not prevent Google from gathering and storing this information and using it for internal purposes. It also does not change the fact that any information gathered and stored by Google could be sought by law enforcement.

With Web History enabled, Google will keep these records indefinitely; with it disabled, they will be partially anonymized after 18 months, and certain kinds of uses, including sending you customized search results, will be prevented. If you want to do more to reduce the records Google keeps, the advice in EFF’s Six Tips to Protect Your Search Privacy white paper remains relevant.

If you have several Google accounts, you will need to do this for each of them.

©2012 Off the Grid News

ShareTweetShareSend

Related Posts

Neuralink’s Dangerous New Trademark Filings

Neuralink’s Dangerous New Trademark Filings

by Bill Heid

The Dark Side of Neural Implants… Power… Privacy… and Control? From an observer’s standpoint, Neuralink’s newly filed trademarks signal an...

When Powerful Machines Are Watching: Privacy Threats and Your Best Defenses in an Automated World

When Powerful Machines Are Watching: Privacy Threats and Your Best Defenses in an Automated World

by Bill Heid

Between Innovation and Intrusion: Safeguarding Privacy in the Age of AI Artificial intelligence is evolving at a breathtaking pace, revolutionizing...

Unraveling the Chemical Complexity of Pine Needles

Safeguarding Your Children’s Privacy in a “Connected” Christmas

by Bill Heid

Are your child’s experiences being sent to massive data centers? Increasingly, these special surprises include advanced technology… toys that respond...

Next Post

John Stossel’s Illegal Everything with An Cap Chase

Please login to join discussion

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Revolver Or Semi-Auto For EDC? – A Policeman’s Perspective

Revolver Or Semi-Auto For EDC? — A Policeman’s Perspective

Congress May Make Silencers Easier To Purchase … But Should It?

Congress May Make Silencers Easier To Purchase … But Should It?

Growing Garlic

Growing Garlic

TRENDING STORIES

  • bubonic plague

    Is Another Bubonic Plague Pandemic On The Horizon?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Waco Fertilizer Plant Explosion & A Look Back On The “Waco Massacre”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Make Yourself 3 Times More Likely To Survive A Heart Attack

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • AI Surveillance Of Shoppers: Walmart’s Newest Tool To Grab Your Data

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Apocalyptic’ Microchip Implants Are Here – And Being Inserted Into People’s Hands

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Subscribe to our Insider Newsletter

Huge discounts on off-the-grid gear and life saving supplements.






‘Off The Grid News’ is an independent, weekly email newsletter and website that is crammed full of practical information on living and surviving off the grid. Advice you’ll never hear from the mainstream media.

  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Extreme Survival
  • Survival Gardening
  • Off-Grid Foods
  • Worldview
  • Natural Health
  • Survival Hunting
  • Privacy
  • Financial
  • Current Events
  • Self Defense
  • Home Defense
  • Pain-Free Living
  • Miscellaneous
  • Off Grid Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
  • Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.