Google announced some changes to its privacy policy so that users henceforth will have a greater say in the manner their data is collected and stored by Google. According to the new policy that has already been put to effect, Google will automatically delete user info such as location history, YouTube search history as well as web and app activity data.
However, this applies to only new users. In contrast, for all existing users, they will have to explicitly make the necessary changes in their My Activity page for the above set information to be deleted. For all users, Google collects user info such as search history, location history, YouTube history, voice commands through Google Assistant. All of this also gets mentioned in every user’s My Activity page as well.
However, as per changes introduced last year, exiting users now have the option to delete such data at the end of three months or eighteen months.
New users are better off in that they will have the delete option enabled by default and hence, won’t have to do anything else to get their info deleted from Google’s servers.
Google also said they would make it easier for existing users to make the necessary changes in their My Activity page so that they can delete the information they have shared with the company. Google also said they would be promoting the change more aggressively to make the general user aware of it and to encourage them to use the feature so that they have better control over the info they are sharing with Google.
As it is, Google is notoriously famous for collecting user data which in turn drive their ad business. However, it is good to see the company allowing users to have better control over such practices and allowing them to delete such data though it is only after Google had made good of those.
