Facebook might be at the center of the most important user privacy breach scandal in recent history, but don’t think for a second that Google isn’t somewhat worried about the whole matter. It’s likely that lawmakers around the world might come up with new regulation for internet companies in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica mess that will affect not just Facebook, but also Google, and every other tech firm that does any kind of data collection.
Google, too, collects plenty of user data, maybe even more than Facebook does. And it does it for the same reason: to sell better-targeted ads. The customer, meanwhile, agrees to hand over that data in return for all the great software that’s available from Google for “free.” But if you freaked out over the amount of information Facebook harnesses from its users, wait until you see what Google is capable of.
Would Google share any of that data with others? Well, how do you think Facebook was able to log all those calls and text messages on Android devices?
You can easily download all the data Facebook has on you and inspect it. Google also has a similar tool in place. Twitter user Dylan Curran downloaded both the Facebook and Google data dumps posting a mesmerizing 37-part Twitter thread in which he goes over his findings.
Things get creepy rather quickly. For starters, his Google data dump measures 5.5GB, which is nine times bigger than his Facebook data.
7. Google offers an option to download all of the data it stores about you, I've requested to download it and the file is 5.5GB BIG, which is roughly 3 MILLION Word documents https://t.co/3Na4FxjNXk
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Location. Location. Location.
2. This is every place I have been in the last twelve months in Ireland, going in so far as the time of day I was in the location and how long it took me to get to that location from my previous one pic.twitter.com/I1kB1vwntT
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Your search histories.
3. https://t.co/qFCgY6QLN5 Google stores search history across all your devices on a separate database, so even if you delete your search history and phone history, Google STILL stores everything until you go in and delete everything, and you have to do this on all devices
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
All of them.
21. Here's the search history document, which has 90,000 different entries, even showing the images I downloaded and the websites I accessed (I showed ThePirateBay section to show much damage this information can do) pic.twitter.com/rZJhJjSe2t
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Again, all of your searches are in there.
29. Every image I've ever searched for and saved, every location I've ever searched for or clicked on, every news article I've ever searched for or read, and EVERY SINGLE google search I've made since 2009 pic.twitter.com/xPOK8h3qej
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Google knows if you’re going to be a parent soon from YouTube history.
6. https://t.co/5B6qxUvrJz Google stores ALL of your YouTube history, so they know whether you're going to be a parent soon, if you're a conservative, if you're a progressive, if you're Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, if you're feeling depressed or suicidal, if you're anorexic…
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
All your Google Drive history, including deleted files.
23. This is my Google Drive, which includes files I EXPLICITLY deleted including my resume, my monthly budget, and all the code, files, and websites I've ever made, and even my PGP private key, which I deleted, which I use to encrypt e-mails pic.twitter.com/UpfUNTD6yR
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
All the emails, including the ones that were deleted and the spam.
26. Every e-mail I've ever sent, that's been sent to me, including the ones I deleted or were categorised as spam pic.twitter.com/mbUOlu6KXN
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Basically, everything you do online.
28. Firstly every Google Ad I've ever viewed or clicked on, every app I've ever launched or used and when I did it, every website I've ever visited and what time I did it at, and every app I've ever installed or searched for pic.twitter.com/DcMdnbzuC6
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Imagine all this data getting into the wrong hands…
32. This information has millions of nefarious uses and violates multiple human rights, you're not a terrorist? Then how come you were googling ISIS? Work at Google and you're suspicious of your wife? Perfect, just look up her location and search history for the last ten years
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
You can check the full thread at this link, to see exactly what Google and Facebook may have on you, and whether you need to make any changes to the way Google and Facebook handle your data.
