On March 1, Google's new unified privacy policy will go into effect. For many this will mean nothing, but it means the search giant now has your permission to collect information and give it to other Google products. Previously web and search history was kept separate, but as of March 1, it's open season on your searches and viewing.
But there's a way out of this -- sort of. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit fighting for digital rights for the consumer, one can delete one's web history.
Until now, your Google Web History (your Google searches and sites visited) was cordoned off from Google's other products. This protection was especially important because search data can reveal particularly sensitive information about you, including facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and more. If you want to keep Google from combining your Web History with the data they have gathered about you in their other products, such as YouTube or Google Plus, you may want to remove all items from your Web History and stop your Web History from being recorded in the future.
To disable Web History:
- Go to google.com/history and log in to your Google Account.
- Click "Remove all Web History."
- Click "OK."
This will keep your Web History turned off until you activate it again. It will appear paused, but that also means off in this instance. You will also have to do this for any other Google Accounts you may have. Although Google will still collect information on you, at least it won't be shared as much.
This may seem extreme, but in this digital tracking age, you may want to keep as much information on yourself private -- especially if you watched 1,000 kitten videos on YouTube or spent hours searching for furry meet-ups.
