DENVER – Here are seven facts about the data search-engine giant Google keeps on you and how you can ask Google to delete your information.
1. Google tracks each place you search for in Google maps and the locations where you have visited.
2. For Google Voice users, Google maintains the phone number, voicemail transcription and text messages you have sent and received.
3. Your web searches are logged.
4. Anyone can download a copy of all of Google’s data. You can do this by visiting the following link: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190?hl=en. When you visit this page, you can download all or part of the data Google keeps that is linked to your account. For many users, it will take Google hours to prepare your data for download. When that is complete, Google will send you an email with links to files you can download. Expect to receive links to several large files of 2GB in size.
5. If you don’t want to go through the process of downloading all your data, you can see what topics Google thinks you are interested in and also which ad topics you can expect to see on search engine ads. Just visit this website after signing in to your Google account: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.
6. Google maintains a user-friendly page that helps explain what data Google keeps on you and why. The list also includes emails you send and receive on Gmail, contacts you add, calendar events and photos & videos you upload. You can see the list here: https://privacy.google.com/your-data.html.
7. You can ask Google to delete much of your data by visiting this page: https://myactivity.google.com/. To delete the data click on the three vertical dots. You can choose a specific timeframe of data to delete. To delete locations where Google has tracked you, visit this page: https://www.google.com/maps/timeline and then click on the cog in the lower right, then click delete.
