15 things you didnt know that Google knows about YOU!

Google is Skynet ! Google also access to your voicemail with Google Voice and they just had a big acquisition deal yesterday for mobile advertising platform so what is coming next ?

Yeah. I would agree that the new big brother is "G". However how can a single person go against the flow that is the "G". I am thinking probably not so maybe masking your your idn=entity is the next big thing.

Greg

google still writes the checks..


-JBorjaPerez

When a customer buys from my company:

I know if they are male or female.
I know their first name.
I know their last name.
I know their address.
I know if they live in a wealthy area.
I know what they are interested in.
I know what propblem they are trying to solve.
I know if they have bought before.
I know their telephone number.
I know their credit card details.
I know their bank account details.
I know what their favourite TV program is.

Ok maybe the last one is an exaggeration. The rest isn't.

Perhaps this sounds a little scary, but in this age, it is a fact of life, unless you physically pay for something in cash.

I'm sure it is exactly how Big Brother wants it to be.

Sam

1. Everything you search for. Well d'oh.

* I do not use google for my search engine to find stuff

2. Which websites you clicked on from the search results.

* I click none

4. What language you read, what city you're in, which ISP you use, who is your employer (if you use the same computer from work and home).

* No way to tell what city I am from (ISP says I live in north carolina)

5. All the webpages you visit. They know this in two ways. First of all, if you visit one site with adsense on it, and then visit another site with adsense on it, Google knows you're the same person. Second, if you have Google Toolbar installed and you enabled PR display, Google knows about *every* page you visit.

* They have no idea if you are the same person, they can only track agent/ip and nothing more

6. All the alerts you set, Google knows about, and can infer things about you like what topics and keywords you are interested in.

* Don't setup any

7. If you read Google News, then Google knows about that, and what news items you read.

* Don't read it

8. If you watch videos on YouTube, Google knows your taste in videos. Do you like young cheerleaders? Google knows that. Your spouse may not know that

* Watch as little as possible

9. If you visit any blogs on blogspot, Google knows. You like to read about English soccer teams? Google knows.

* They have no idea who I am a million other people have the same ip/agent that I have. Besides that I do not have any bloodspot blogs and have only visited 3 in my entire life

10. If you have an adwords or adsense account, Google knows your financial information.

* Don't use and have never entered any financial info on google's site

11. If you use gmail, Google knows every word you wrote in email, to whom, which messages you read and when, and who you get email from -- even if the email is supposedly private.

* I use my own server mail

12. If you use Google Docs, every document you store in there is saved by Google and cannot be easily deleted -- they have backups.

* Don't use

13. If you use Google Calendar, then Google knows where you are and when, and whom you are meeting, and the subject of every meeting you record in your calendar.

* Don't use

14. If you have a Google Webmaster account, you are giving Google information about every website you put in there. Google can infer information about your business, personal interests, and your skills as a webmaster.

* Don't use

15. Recently Google started forcing people to verify gmail accounts through SMS. Now Google correlates the owner of a gmail account with a cell phone number.

* Don't use

Gee .. Google is tuff out of luck here.. Besides that point, they have no idea who I am anyways. I could very well be a bot programmed to do all the above task. This is what AI is for (although not perfected but anyone can create a bot to do all the above).

Besides that I agree with KatyaSenina - Who Cares, I have nothing to hide ...

James

Yep, there's always a tradeoff. We want information and they want information. We love the tools Google provides because it makes our lives easier and more effective as marketers. In return they get to track our online habits to the letter.

Even so, I wonder how much evidence there is that Goog uses the info they get. I mean, talk about detailed profiles of people. The information they have is tremendous. I wonder exactly what they do to put it to use. Thanks for the lowdown.

I think one of the biggest take aways from this is that Google is a BUSINESS and does things that are in ITS best interest.

They are not, nor have the ever been, Santa Claus. On the other hand, they aren't Scrooge either. Also, it's not like they are the only ones collecting information. At least we know some of the things they're doing. Think about all of the data that's collected about you online that you have NO idea about.

One other thought: If they didn't track ANYTHING their search results would be total c-r-a-p (excuse the language).

Finally, I do think these things are important to at least be aware of. What you do once you are aware is up tp you.

All the best,
Michael

From a personal perspective, Google doesn't scare me as much as Facebook. Facebook knows your friends, your real life, has pictures of you. If Facebook were weaponized, they could seriously mess with some people's heads and lives.

The power Google has is over the Internet. They basically decide what lives and dies. That's a ton of power, the power to control the flow of information.

Yeah I know about this. But I when I was working in outsourcing company last year, they are using hide IP software.. I'm just curious if Google still know about it?

Doesn't happen here.

Must be an American thing?

After reading the OP the first thing that came to my mind was a thread started a while ago - reminding us there is a real world out there, don't confuse WF and the IM with it

And if you think that going offline would protect your absolute privacy... think again.

Let me tell you a story. Will try to be brief but sometimes it's difficult. OK, here itgoes.

I spent about two decades of my adult life on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain in a Communist dictatorship. I wasn't among the 'good guys' so a state security officer (a major) has been assigned to keep on eye on me. My phone was intercepted, my mail was opened, my friends were recruited to spy on me etc. It wasn't fun. However, they could not follow you everywhere all the time - so, from time to time you could have a break.

Fast forward a few years. New life in Canada: real freedom, civic liberties, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, no more surveillance... actually, nobody really cares what you do.

So, one day I met an ex-sweetheart, still beautiful as she was 15 years earlier and we go on a romantic trip to Western Europe. Germany, Italy (Venice, of course), Switzerland - all the nice places. It was before the euro era, so each country had its own currency. I couldn't keep up with all those different bills amd coins - so I started to pay everywhere with my only credit card. (Even today I still have only just that one CC.)

Next month when the statement came from my bank I could follow exactly where I was and what I did:
- entering the highway and paying the toll (entered X point; exited Y point)
- dinner in ABC restaurant
- slept in XYZ hotel
- bought gas at 123 gas station

Basically, my whole trip with every details was on that CC statement. Not my online surfing, like watching funny youtube videos... My real life!

I think my "comrade major" wold have been envious seeing how easy it was. It is still a mystery why those idiotic dictators didn't let us to have credit cards

yup, big brother is watching. It don't matter. You should not be doing any thing "wrong anyways".

I'm not scared. Just want to be sure if all information about me is safe and secured.

Isn't it a marketers job to find out as much as possible about prospects? Don't we all do it, if on a somewhat smaller scale?

Maybe Google's next plan is to recruit US Citizens to overthrow their own government
just like the colonists did to the British a couple hundred years ago.

Well the real truth is that your right to privacy, in the way that people choose to define it,
is a myth in the first place. At least in the U.S.

The Constitution does not protect your information from being gathered.

It protects you from how your personal information is used against you.

Matt

If i was ever team captain im Picking Google 1st

Great Post! Lol I'm sort of with James on this one. I usually don't do any of the above things in order for them to retrieve information.

My 0.02
Jeff

I was looking at number 8 and so if I said my sexual prefernces were many ... google could call me on it? I mean my wife knows my door swings one way.

Eventually big G will fall foul of privacy laws; if they do not already do so and a massive class action will evolve.

Yeah Google knows all this, but Sears was fined a ton of money a few weeks ago for doing the same thing......so some win and some loose, just depends who controls the biggest part of the world !!

I read this whole thread and now I realize - Is this anyway related to internet marketing and making money?

Duh! I wasted 5 minutes

All of this issues can be stopped by using alternative services and forcing your contacts to do the same.

Also, xerobank.net blocks google from knowing who you are and where you are located.

Worth every penny.


otherwise you get this.....

Google in 2084
http://www.jumbojoke.com/images/google2084.jpg

Eventually in the future, Google will inserts chips into our babies.

Each baby will be assigned a few random keywords and a niche.

Each kid will only be able to be contacted, if people find those keywords on the internet.

So the child has to spend most of their early days trying to optimise their individual page and their ppc niche.

You will only be able to buy things via Google.

Your purchasing choices will be restricted to the data Google holds on your Parents.

So if your parents spent all day watching Oprah, and mom clicking on weight loss ads and dad surfing porn, then you are screwed.

Basically, we are doomed...

Come on Bing, perhaps a microsoft controlled future will be better.

Google has become self aware

Makes you wonder how they really use this information. Is google connected with walmar?

Big brother is watching you

Joe118, you make Google sound like the UK Government. Since Gordan Brown and the rest of the goombars in Westminster tell us what to think, what to say and control just about everything else...who cares about Google!

Just wait for the gov the break up google - then we'll see how big they are.

i wonder how much information is "leaked" or sold!

This has been a very interesting post to read with a number of different views. So thanks for the post, but all in all the overall implications pointed a Google for doing the same thing that anyone with a website and tracking software is doing are kinda un-fair. They track things to provide their customers with a better product, make it easier to move thru a website or get the most informed search results, just like any good online business tries to do.

And if you are concerned that your information is not safe then refrain from using the services that are provided by Google, but remember the information helps them to provide a more superior product to their online customers.

And I also have to agree that considering the political climate these days to give up a little privacy to help combat terrorism, online fraud, kiddie porn or any other undesirable online component that gives IMer's a bad name, puts children in danger or causes even larger problems....no problem with the Googlebot here!

There is also the money thing as stated above Big G does help to pay the bills and provides us with the some of the better paid for traffice that can be found.

And while surfing porn if the people running those sites are testing and tracking then you should be getting the best service that they can provide, hence the best adult website experience you can get.

Joel

UNLESS You own cloned modems. Then google thinks that you are someone else.

I use Google as a resource and if it wants some information back so let it have it.

dont forget the g1 (google phone)
which has gps

Well, I'm not ready to take up a hacker alias like "Brill" in "Enemy Of The State". I dont think the alternative of living in a "jar" like faraday cage is too appealing either. Does Google know a crazy amount about people like me with:

- Google Voice
- Multiple Site w/Apps For my Domains
- Google Checkout
- Chrome
- A soon to be had Verizon Droid cell phone
- Google Search as my Homepage
- Youtube Accounts & Searches

Likely I have quite a file back at Google HQ. Am I concerned? Not too concerned. The reason I am not is because I know the second an abuse of power of that information takes place, a mass exodus of customers would likely follow. If that were to happen and they lose customer loyalty, their business model is toast. In any business relationship, there has to be varying degrees of reciprocal trust. The government is already looking hard at Google as they control quite a bit, the second they get a whiff of anything that smells of a monopoly, the senate oversight committees will intervene as they did in the Standard Oil, AT&T, & Microsofts cases. See link below:

Why Is Obama's Top Antitrust Cop Gunning for Google?

Great thread nice

Just searched GOOGLE IS SKYNET, and there are 1.4m search results

Same old story...

G100 sent back in time to kill John Connor's mum, John Connor sends back his dad to save his mum...

Fast forward... armageddon only delayed...

Adapted G100 goes back in time to terminate Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

Hmm google sure knows many things

Privacy is a thing of the past...these days we can lock our door, close the curtains, and through a secret spy cam (pen camera etc), someone may still know what we're doing (yes even scratching our balls)

There are more CCTV cameras everywhere. Even public buses in my area have a camera nowadays. These days, you can't even pee in a public place without fear that someone might have secretly stuck a small peephole camera 'down there'.

Fabian

1. If you use gmail, Google knows every word you wrote in email, to whom, which messages you read and when, and who you get email from -- even if the email is supposedly private.

Isn't this illegal, since a email should be private information, or do they somehow have a way around the law?

I do not use gmail, but if I did I would not be happy with this breach in privacy.

Just imagine if G could ever get into FB.....

Here is an interesting article over at Mashable.

CEO of Mozilla advices Firefox users to use Bing instead of Google because Bing has a better Privacy Policy, after Schimdt's recent speech on privacy policy.

Mozilla Guy to Users: Leave Google, Switch to Bing

Opinions?

Here's a quote from Google's CEO Eric Schmidt "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place,"

I think this is possibly one of the most stupid statements anyone could ever make. The right to privacy should and is supposed to be one of the founding principles of America & many other countries (even tho you wouldn't think it nowadays).

I understand Google is going to know your browsing preferences and I'm fine with that, what I'm not ok with is that the CEO of the company with all that information has such a dim view on one of our basic rights.

I did an article about this ( markflavinblog.com/google/googles-new-view-on-pirvacy-if-youve-got-something-you-dont-want-google-to-know-you-shouldnt-be-doing-it )
and the irony is that a couple years back Mr Schmidt blacklisted CNET for publishing info about him gleaned from Google searches.

Agree with Red_Virus! Google may become Skynet! It is really surprising that Google knows so much about us. However, they assure that no info is sold/shared with anyone. Our data is in safe hands!

Google still gathers data about you even if you don't use any type of google service AT ALL.

If you read their privacy policy you will see that they have the right to access and collect information from partner sites as well...partner sites meaning that if you go to a website that uses Google Analytics, Google will gather data about you.

That website uses Webmaster tools, they gather data about you, you go fill a survey form made trough Google Docs, they gather data about you.

So the argument of "you don't want them to know just don't use any google service" is invalid in my eyes.

I don't get all of the paranoia about Google.

Where have you guys been out in the "real world"?

Any little hole-in-the-wall cafe' that you have eaten at has your credit card info.

Your bank sells your information to telemarketers all of the time.

If you have ever been to any mall you are on at least 35 cameras from every angle.

Any car lot that you bought a car from can track your ass down to get their car back.

So Google knows what you search for and it's the end of the world?

Geez.

Matt

What google can do to harm us for the 15 things that the G knows about us?

I'm not worried about it. Google is a corporation not an individual and if anyone for any reason wanted to access my information they'd be dozing off out of boredom in no time. I totally agree with Big Mike. If it helps to track down anyone who abuses someone else then I'm not going to stand in their way.

There is no longer any privacy really. The only consolation is that there is so much information out there that who can really process it all? There is a shread of privacy there.

You see, THIS is why I HATE datamining by AMATURES!!!!!!!!


[*]Everything you search for. Well d'oh.

BULL!!!!!!! ONE, Who says **I** searched for it? popups, searchbar trojans/defaults, other users, typos, etc... pollute that data. BESIDES, I don't search ONLY on google!
[*]Which websites you clicked on from the search results.

AGAIN, POLLUTED, because of the last point.
[*]How fast you read -- yes, they track how long you stayed on the search results page.

WOW! My computer can be SLOW at times and I can NOT do things sequentially. Sometimes my computer may be on the same page for a WEEK! BESIDES, WHO says I would click ANYTHING!?!? BESIDES, to track speed, you need REAL visit time AND amount read. They don't know when I can start reading, don't really know if I am there, and they can't know the content. Suppose the site says "Here is the data", and I was there the WHOLE time, and spent 6 hours on that page. WHAT is my reading speed? MAYBE I looked at the source! MAYBE the data is in a video that runs for 6 or more hours. HEY, it COULD be streaming LIVE!
[*]What language you read, what city you're in, which ISP you use, who is your employer (if you use the same computer from work and home).

THEIR search engine is polluted, so even I can't be sure what language comes up. SURE, it is USUALLY english, but WHO KNOWS!?!?!? Oh yeah, for the record, I have gone to Home | Deutsche Welle which is a GERMAN site which defaults in ENGLISH, probably due to my US STANDARD windows settings, and switch it to HINDI! Just TRY to detect THAT!

[*]All the webpages you visit. They know this in two ways. First of all, if you visit one site with adsense on it, and then visit another site with adsense on it, Google knows you're the same person. Second, if you have Google Toolbar installed and you enabled PR display, Google knows about *every* page you visit.

That whole theory is TOTALLY wiped out if you use another browser!
[*]All the alerts you set, Google knows about, and can infer things about you like what topics and keywords you are interested in.

Well, there are a lot of places to set a lot of different alerts.

Hey, I recently searched all my files for a string, and a couple "GAY" pictures came up. I promptly deleted them. I never saved them, never intentionally visited such a site, etc...

So someone trying to derive information about me based on such things sickens me. If I were german, in germany, spoke only german, and bought a GERMAN system, I may STILL set the default language to english to find english sites, etc.... Maybe I would WANT to LEARN english. I have gone to sites that USED to be on Visual Basic, and found that they went to PORN sites which thing opened LOTS of popups. I once tried to go to shopping.com, left out ONE letter, by accident, and got to a porn site!

ADSENSE is polluted by Email, and Email is polluted by SPAM!

Do they have too much info? YEP! I am waiting for LOTS of people to go BROKE and have their lives DESTROYED within the next 10 years via ID theft. A lot of that may happen because of sites, LIKE GOOGLE, that figures ALL is up for grabs! EVENTUALLY, maybe in another decade, they will start ENFORCING laws that were codified in the 80s! Even CORPORATIONS have gone to a LOT of trouble NOT to release such information. They include credit related information at no less than 3 major retailing companies I work for, test/identity information at 2 major biomedical companies I have worked at, and EVERY hospital and doctor I have been at. The law SPECIFICALLY forbids releasing credit card numbers/information, birthdates, age, or test information, unless there is a LEGITIMATE reason! Frankly, if any company dares to ask me for this information and it is not needed, THEIR database is polluted. I'm not going to give them my REAL birth date! NO WAY!

I recently looked up an old girl friend's history, to find out what happened to her. She died about 20 years ago. 8-( Anyway, they had EVERYTHING there, INCLUDING her SSN, and complete family tree, together with some info THERE! OK, you say, she's dead ANYWAY! TRUE, BUT.... The Nobel peace prize was created because Alfred got to read his OBITUARY! So that is little consolation.

Oh well, I hope that they take such things into account.

Steve

If you want total privacy (or as close to it as humanly possible) you have to send the world back to the roaring 20's. That'd be okay, I do one mean freakin' charlston.

But consider -- many city streets are now monitored via camera - in large cities in the US you can be given a ticket for a driving offense because a camera is watching you. There are cameras in many parks around the US as well. Take a "private" dive into the bushes with your sweetie lately? Live porn is probably very fun for those reviewing the tapes.

Echelon will record ANY conversation you make via phone or email that has words in it that trigger the system. Every time you say something is "the Bomb" or talk about something you have in your "pot" on the stove, or that you have a "crack" in something, you have triggered echelon and the conversation will be reviewed. You can be listened to in your home via your tv cable, phone cable, etc.
See a van parked outside on your street closeby? Unless your walls and windows are coated with a shiny metal, you can be both heard and observed. Drive a newer car or carry a cell phone? Somebody can tell where you are -- even if the devices are turned OFF. How do you like the idea of going into a department store and having someone watch you try on clothes?

Our society has become so surveillance crazed that there is no way to get around being watched if someone takes it into their head to watch you. It doesn't matter if you are offline or online. If someone wants to know what you're doing, they have the power to know it.

Some of this is all good and well. I use my debit card at the local grocery. If someone is that interested in what toilet paper I buy or what type of organic foods I like, it's not like that is information I wouldn't share anyway. I often put recipes online and if you can't deduce from those what types of things I'll be buying, then you just aren't real smart.

But I don't like the idea of being watched when I go to a park, or when I am in the bathroom, or when I am being intimate with someone in my own home. Those who tend to think that everything is okay unless they are doing something wrong - I'm wondering if they would perform their last sex act with their partner on a stage with a live audience? Or if they would just squat down on a local street corner and move their bowels.

It's not the fact that we are watched.......it's the intensity of the surveillance that bothers me.

Well it is obvious that some company would have all this power. But I think it is a GOOD thing. Especially of it's Google! They have an amazing culture and want to change the world. Their motto is "don't be evil."

They have a better heart and in my opinion, they are the best company to have this power. Also, imagine if there were 100's of companies with your private info like this, you will not know who is exploiting it and who is not. At least with Google, they are one giant entity that is easy to spot.

Damm it you mean to say Google know about my big porn crusade last week...

1. If you watch videos on YouTube, Google knows your taste in videos. Do you like young cheerleaders? Google knows that. Your spouse may not know that

LOL
and i didnt know google knows our gmail content!

Financial information as in ? Bank Saving-account numbers ? amount in multiple banks ? No. Google knows how much you earn from adsense or affiliate program and they keep that record. No personal financial information is asked or stored by google.

If you can prove they do store some confidential information(saving account, bank receipt info etc) that they're not supposed to then people can sue them with lawsuit and that will be biggest lawsuit against google or any internet company. In such Google will be helpless even if they asked for any TOS etc cause that will be direct invasion of privacy which even if it covers under some TOS blah blah will not save any company from illegal spying.

They've got their fingers in a lot of pies with their diversification, remember when they just used to be a search engine? Now they're wanting to get a piece of the mobile phone market, what next? I bet they create the technology that ends up in Arnold's head, I think somebody already mentioned Skynet? You read my mind, hehehe.

Resistance is futile.

Wow! Can be scary...i suppose if you have nothing to hide it doesnt matter.

some people may not like the fact that Google is able to read soooo much about them, without even doing a single thing! Strange!!

How did we ever manage without the net??

exciting and scary at the same time isnt it, hehe

A lot of smugness about "I don't have anything to hide" ... especially since lives are regularly ruined by erroneous and blatantly false information supplied to these databases.

And it's not about what "they know about you" - but what "they" deduce about you through statistics, algorithms, etc - that in reality couldn't be further from the truth of "who you are".

I would be more concerned about how easy it is to gain access to this information by cyber-criminals - as demonstrated by Google's numerous security breaches.

I kinda find the sms verification thing troublesome, they shud stick to the usual, although people may get gazillion accounts without this verification.

Of course google know it.If not,it will be impossible for it to improve its function.But I think you can also install some useful tool on your website to get some useful information.GA is pretty good for such use.

Eh, I am sure Google knows each and every time I take a crap. In fact, they are probably looking at me right now. I don't have anything to hide so it doesn't bother me.

for example, the lines from Google's privacy policy: "We may combine the information that you submit under your account with information from other Google services or third parties , in order to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of our services"

LOL@skynet!

very interesting, will think twice before settng up a gmail account in the future although i'm sure all the others like yahoo and hotmail do the same thing.