Google Takeout
- Thread starter tres
- Start date
Caporegime
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 30,615
I use Google location tracking to work out my mileage claim for work, so it is useful.
Soldato
- Joined
- 8 Sep 2003
- Posts
- 23,234
- Location
- Was 150 yds from OCUK - now 0.5 mile; they moved
35% complete · Data collected: 9.68 GB
61% complete · Data collected: 15.54 GB
97% complete · Data collected: 96.45 GB
100% complete · Data collected: 164.96 GB
That doesn't work for me??? 61% is 15.54GB and 97% is 96.45GB
Google learn to MATH
61% complete · Data collected: 15.54 GB
97% complete · Data collected: 96.45 GB
100% complete · Data collected: 164.96 GB
That doesn't work for me??? 61% is 15.54GB and 97% is 96.45GB
Google learn to MATH
Last edited:
Ages ago I turned off all activity tracking aside from YouTube however I do use Drive/Photos and store my Contacts & Calendar with them. My Takeout download seems to reflect that and on the face it of it that seems fine, but I still doubt these companies don't store everything anyway. You just have to accept when you're using an online service that you open yourself up to your data being used for whatever reason. I'm picky and try to keep things under fewer roofs as possible and anything sensitive or sentimental I use more caution and for storage use my own physical copies with a cloud copy just in case.
You´ve said that you were "still waiting for your archive to be prepaired". I´ve been using it for years without problem till a couple of monthes ago. But just right now when I prepear an archive it remains at 0% mb and never finished. Did you or anybody have a solution for this? Thank you
10 months ago, I have no clue what happened with it in all honesty.
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Dec 2005
- Posts
- 17,317
- Location
- Bristol
Worst apostrophe and thread necro of the year goes to...
Unfortunately I don't have a Google account and don't want to sign up for one. So Google allows me no way to check what information they have on me.
And if you think just because you don't have a Google account they don't have a tonne of it, you're fooling yourself.
And if you think just because you don't have a Google account they don't have a tonne of it, you're fooling yourself.
I don't have a Google account, use Pale Moon browser, prevent all sites from running scripts by default, don't use Android, don't use Alexa, do use a VPN at all times, have no cookies that survive the closure of the browser window, no cookies that last more than 30s without being used...I think I'm doing as much as I reasonably can to maintain my privacy and security. They probably track my location as best they can, but it's always fake and tracks back to Panama City, a place I've never been to. It's not perfect security, but I think it's the best I can do without inconveniencing myself.
Interesting. I do some of that, not routinely (and not Panama City!). How did you set the "no cookies lasting more than 30seconds without being used" thing and doesn't that cause a lot of issues for you?
A plug-in called "Self Destructing Cookies". It was developed for Firefox, but there is also a version specifically for Pale Moon. You can specify a time limit or have them deleted when you close the tab for that particular page. Having them deleted after 30s of no use does cause issues. It will, for example, often force you to relogin to sites. It will also sometimes break shopping online. The plug-in allows for whitelisting trusted sites. You can use that and other settings to allow sites of your choice to set cookies that last until you close the browser window, which is what I do.
My antivirus software often tries to persuade me to buy security products from the same company. One way it does so is to pop up a window telling me that any website can see where I am and gives my location. It's always wrong, which is nice and shows that my security software is doing its job. The only drawback is that I get adverts in various languages, which is no drawback at all. Advertising usually snoops your (apparent) location to feed you adverts, so I get adverts in what I presume is the local language for wherever I appear to be, sometimes for brands I don't even recognise. It's usually a random location in the UK, but I can choose pretty much anywhere I like or have it randomly faked. Detailed tracking could possibly track me to where my VPN is based, which is Panama City. Which has no data retention laws. It's on a server with no permanent storage anyway, so there are no logs to be found even if the business was utterly compromised and its equipment seized.
Basic security like that does reduce performance and increase inconvenience, but I think it's worth doing.
The main way that spy companies could track me is through browser fingerprint/profiling, since Pale Moon isn't widely used. I could probably take some steps to harden my system against that, but I haven't.
You can test that here:
https://panopticlick.eff.org/