Google Privacy: 10 Ways to Opt Out and Take Control Part 2 of 2
We began our discussion earlier this week about the ways to protect your privacy and as promised here is the conclusion of our list.
6: Removing content for Google search results:
This one can be pretty difficult, and as an up-front disclosure, it is not always possible.
To be clear, Google is fairly compliant in removing personal information that it stores on its servers and in its databases. However, if something is stored on a third-party website, then Google usually is unable to help. A good place to start is: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164734 .
However some of the steps listed may require a bit of experience (such as updating the meta tags to prevent crawling and/or indexing of specific sites or pages).
Also, if a site is posting personal information (such as bank account numbers, social security numbers, or other legally confidential information), and you are unable to work with the site manager to remove the content, then you can try the legal removal form.
Or to remove a personal phone number or residential listing from Google, you can use the removal request form. This only removes it from Google’s database, not from all the available online phone directories.
On a related note, Google also provides some statistics on government requests for content removal, or for data related to criminal cases. This can be viewed at http://www.google.com/governmentrequests/.
7: General Tracking Cookie Opt Out (for beginners):
You can use your browser security and privacy settings to control which cookies you accept and block. In general, people are more concerned about third-party cookies – cookies that are delivered over ad networks for example – rather than cookies from the specific sites that they visit.
This is because cookies from ad networks tend to track you as you move between sites, whereas first-party cookies tend to only store your user preferences (as you state them) for that particular site. Of course, you can always block all cookies.
This does not guarantee that that all third-party cookies will be blocked, but it does help increase security a little bit without having a major impact on usability. To permanently block specific cookies, see #2 and #5 above.
Another option that is included with most new browsers is an “incognito” mode (also called InPrivate browsing) that restricts tracking cookies and then purges stored data such as browsing history, cookies, and stored passwords when you close the browser.
While neither actually provides full or total privacy protection, it at least helps control your privacy a little bit more.
8: General Tracking Cookie Blocking and Ad Blocking (for medium – advanced users):
Advanced users are probably aware of many methods that we won’t cover here, but in general there are many browser add-ons and extensions that can help block all ads, cookies, and other unwanted content. These will go a step further in preventing unwanted tracking, as well as added protection against ads and mischievous websites.
For Firefox, Opera, and Chrome Internet browsers, AdBlock or AdSweep are fairly effective, or the NoScript extension just for Firefox. For Internet Explorer, AdBlockIE provides the same functionality. However, these also block all Javascript, which can also essentially disable many sites unless you manually label them as “trusted sites,” so sometimes they are not the best solution because they can negatively impact your browsing.
9: Google Street View: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/privacy.html
Many people have concerns about Google Street View because it displays pictures of homes, cars and potentially other information that people would rather not have easily accessible online.
Removing specific images from Google Street View is somewhat hit-or-miss. In general, showing specific cars parked in your driveway, images of people in your front yard (such as kids playing), visible license plate numbers, or other details such as that tend to have a higher likelihood of being removed. However, from what we can tell, having entire images of your home or street removed is generally hit-or-miss, although Google has reportedly been more responsive in recent months.
The best place to start is to find the objectionable pictures on StreetView. Once you have located the objectionable image(s), at the bottom left hand corner of the StreetView, in white text, is a link that says “Report a Problem.” Once clicked, another window will open that allows you to request removal of objectionable images, including specific homes, cars, or people.
10: General Account Google Security
One of the most frightening things about any company storing so much data about you is what might happen should any unauthorized person gain access to that data. If someone were to gain access to your account (by gaining access to your password, for example), then they could just as easily access all the data that you are hoping to protect.
While the common mantra is no system is 100 percent secure, it is actually much more likely that someone will gain access to your account by stealing or guessing your login information. As such, we highly recommended that you understand how to regain control over your Google accounts should they ever become compromised.
There are a few main steps to doing this, but if you have a few minutes, you could just as simply pretend that you have lost your password and see what steps it takes to get back in. What would you do?
If you have not already done this, https://www.google.com/accounts/UpdateAccountRecoveryOptions helps you set how you will recover your password, including an alternate email address, a phone number (so they can text you your password), or a security question and answer.
People usually set these things when they first created the account and have not updated them since, and in many cases no longer remember them. For example, the alternate email address might no longer exist, or you may not remember the security question and answer. Ensuring that these are up-to-date can help quickly regain access should you forget your password, or should your account become compromised.
Also, for Gmail users, at the bottom of the page, Google displays your account activity logs. This displays when and where your account was accessed. This can help you see if somebody accesses your account when you are away, or if they access your account from somewhere else (such as China).
In other words take a proactive approach to keeping you data safe. Use passphrases instead of passwords. Use numbers and punctuation in your passphrases, and change them frequently. Regularly scan your computer using trusted antivirus and anti-spyware software, and install software updates as soon as they are available.
11: Other Notes on Google:
Although we focused on Google because of its popularity and extensive user-base, there is really not much that makes it overall better or worse than any other popular online company, including even credit reporting agencies, news outlets, online stores, and obviously other search engines (although there are a few scattered exceptions). But on the plus side, for all the negativity that Google receives because of privacy issues, it does an above-average job at allowing users to understand, opt-out, and manage their privacy.
Google’s business model is gathering data about you so that it can show you advertisements that it thinks you will click on. That is how it makes its money, and it does it very well. However, for all the data it collects, it never sells or shares that data (well, except when obligated by court order, which is an obligation for everybody).
Ultimately, managing your online privacy is going to depend on you. We hope that these few tips give you a little assistance in understanding how to control and manage your online presence, and help you keep your private information private.
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About the Author:
About Todd McMurtrey
The marketing team at Amadeus Consulting considers it part of their daily tasks to stay on top of what is going on in the technology marketplace. It is important to our company culture to be technology thought leaders, but we also want to share our knowledge and insights with readers excited about the latest and greatest tech news in the Tech Market Watch blog.
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