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Google Chrome And Problematic Privacy

2020-01-23by Molly Crockett

It’s quite likely that whether you’re idly browsing or specifically searching for something, you aren’t considering who or what is looking at your search data. Your focus is on finding the key terms which will bring up the information you need, whether you’re trying to find a new watch, check an address, or log into a website. Across the globe, people are using browsers every second of every day to make these searches, and Google Chrome is among the most popular, appealing to its users with a neat, intuitive interface and clever search options. There is, however, a downside to it.

           

Omniscient Ads

You may have noticed the way that adverts reflect your searches and history, often bringing up items you’ve already looked at, or showing you similar alternatives that might make the cut. It’s astonishing how relevant some of these ads can be, almost as though Google knows its individual users personally – and they achieve this by collecting swathes of data from every search users make.

 

How Do They Work?

 

The usefulness of this is obvious; Google can predict things like what area you’ll be looking in and the style and size of items you search for, streamlining your experience. They can also extrapolate from their data to show you new things which align with your interests. If you regularly follow cookery blogs, they might show you clever kitchen gadgets or nice recipe books. “This can be really useful, but you have to bear in mind that all of this information has been taken from your browsing history, and is being stored on Googles servers for them to sell to whomever they choose”, - explains Maria Green, a Data Analyst at Best Australian Writers and Best British Essays.

 

What’s The Problem?

 

Privacy is becoming an increasingly hot issue, particularly following some big breaches in data security. Many users are unaware of how much of their information is being collected, and what is being done with it.

 

While all browsers and search engines collect some data, Google is particularly vigorous, and their widespread network (think Android, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Documents, as well as the many apps they own under other names) means that they have access to far more data than most other companies. Consider the sort of personal information you might enter into any one of these examples, and think about what conclusions Google will be able to draw from that. If you regularly search directions on Google Maps using a particular postcode, it is a reasonable guess that the postcode represents your home address.

 

 Chrome’s Tactics

 

Google Chrome is perhaps the cornerstone to their data-gathering technology. It improves upon all their tracking methods, gathering data in real-time, and attaching that data to a profile that they build for each user. Since Chrome logs almost every key stroke, even half-typed searches are stored up on their systems, whether you have pressed ‘enter’ or not. This gives them access to vastly more data than just ‘completed’ searches, allowing them tap into half-finished thoughts and ideas, which many users will be unaware of.

 

Google Chrome is also capable of logging your activity on its browser; it can tell how long you have looked at an area of Google Maps for, how frequently you visit particular webpages, which ones you stay active on, and even how regularly you use the ‘back’ arrow to navigate. “It knows what time of day you make particular searches, allowing it to track your routine and habits, and giving Google insight into your everyday life, including work hours, sleep patterns, etc.”, - says Tammy Prahl, a Secuity Manager at Revieweal and Boom Essays.

 

While all this means Google can very effectively offer up relevant services and tailor themselves to suit their users, the amount of data which is collected without users even being aware of it might well raise red flags with some people who are concerned about their data. Google makes the majority of its money from advertising, so the value this data has is obvious, but users have no control over who is able to see or purchase their information. It’s not even easy for a user to know what Google has gathered and stored – we search almost mindlessly, focused on the task at hand rather than what we might be revealing about ourselves and our habits, and who might be tapping into the information Google is harvesting on every user.

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Author

Molly Crockett

Molly Crockett is a tech lead and blogger at Big Assignments and OX Essays. She shares her latest tech ideas by contributing articles to online magazines, and writing a blog at Elite Assignment Help online writing service.

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