I know that Google is making money through use of my personal data. I wish they would be required boldly state on every page that my personal data is being used, and that they are profiting from it. Finally, there should be some steps offered to remedy some of the above such as requesting that parts of the data that would be convenient for me to have deleted would be deleted. And the parts that are inconvenient such as my ability to login to sites I commonly visit could be preserved since that minimum requirements are met so I can easily access those sites.
And while I have no big conspiracy theories at the moment about how Google is doing anything evil, there is certainly no guarantee that something in the future could impact me. For example there could be some bad players working inside Google, Google could be acquired, or the government could take control in some way. these are all things that could be dangerous to me in the future if Google continues to preserve large amounts of my personal information.
FYI - Google does offer a series of tools for you to manage your data. If you are signed in there is my activity[1], and takeout[2]. There are options to control targeted ads[3] and auto-delete location and activity data older than 3 months[4].
Google is really good about takeout. It's really bad about maintaining my privacy. The opt-outs are limited in scope to the point of being almost meaningless. I don't mind ads being targeted as data being collected about me. Google's privacy tools are a joke.
Google's security tools are a joke too. Google silently drops security support for Android phones after two years, and people unwittingly walk around with zero-day exploitable phones. Chromebooks are similar. If you want to maintain a secure Google Apps domain, you need to pay Google huge bucks. It benefits everyone, especially Google, if the Internet is safe, and Google's attitude here will come back to bite it.
My core issue is the unfulfilled promise of the panopticon.
I'm still waiting for the recommenders, personalizers which help me.
Not boost engagement. Not amplify tiny differences. Not catalysts for virality.
I was on the recommender, personalization team for a high end fashion retailer. Joining, I thought "Woohoo! Teach the computer tell me which dress shirt to buy! Pick the right t-shirts! Find tasteful but understated socks! Finally!"
It took me a while to peel back all the layers to reveal the team's secret sauce. Turns out there isn't any. The most performant algorithm was "stuff you've looked at before" (~70%), followed by "what's hot" and "what's new".
While most of our effort was put into all the Big Data Machine Learning Booyah stuff, I'd characterize the attributable "lift" as little better than noise. Terrible ROI. We would have been MUCH BETTER off improving the data quality, search features, and browsing experience.
(I had some other more radical ideas. A whole thesis built around authenticity and actual engagement. Way past StitchFix. Alas, too weird for the brick & mortar types. Imagine explaining TikTok influencers to your great aunt. But I'd be happy to have someone pay me for a brain dump.)
In conclusion, nothing this last decade has shaken my hunch that digital ads are a giant con job. At least outside of political advertising. (My bro has worked in ad tech for 15+ (?) years. Our spirited debate has never stopped.)
WARNING! We use your personal data to improve your experience using Google products. We believe this will lead you using the service more often and, in doing so, see more ads which we profit from.
Hah as if it did improve the service compared to listening to basic product feedback. YouTube recommendations alone seem to cause people to lose hair, and that’s not even touching ads.
But what am I talking about! Google KNOWS scale, I’m sure it’ll come together eventually.
... and to help funnel investments into promising web properties giving us an insurmountable competitive edge in search. While we could use this as an unfair advantage in any takeover talk, we have a motto and a friendly logo which clearly signal our benign intentions.
Side note, we are spinning out Google into a separate entity, because we are growing so big. The new conglomerate is called Alphabet. It's just a silly accounting action, nothing to see here.
And while I have no big conspiracy theories at the moment about how Google is doing anything evil, there is certainly no guarantee that something in the future could impact me. For example there could be some bad players working inside Google, Google could be acquired, or the government could take control in some way. these are all things that could be dangerous to me in the future if Google continues to preserve large amounts of my personal information.