Google has changed their privacy policy
As I hope you have heard, Google has changed their privacy policy. Although the data that they do collect has not changed, the way they collect it has. If you were unaware, Google has had a way to allow you to clear this collected data and stop tracking. You need to be logged into your Google account to access your "Dashboard". There are a lot of options, so take your time to look through them all and decide what you do and do not want turned on.
Below are 5 things to check when you get logged in.
1. Turn off web history and YouTube history. Both the basic web search as well as YouTube can gather a history of where you’ve visited as well as what you’ve searched for. You can clear your history and “pause” the tracking.
For web search: Make sure you’re logged in to your Google profile. Click “remove all web history.” Also be sure to click “pause” to pause the history gathering. If you decide you want to bring it back, you can click “resume.”
For YouTube: Make sure you’re logged in, then visit YouTube and click on your icon in the upper right hand corner. Click on “Video Manager,” then click on “History” in the column on the left. Clear viewing history and pause viewing history. Then click on “Search history” on the left and do the same with that option.
2. Explore other options. Other search engines exist, like Bing and Yahoo, as well as search engines that specifically don’t track what you search, like DuckDuckGo. You can use chat alternatives to GChat or choose to use GChat “off the record,” which won’t store chat transcripts. Select that option in each the GChat window under “Actions.”
3. Sign out before you search. This option’s simple: If you’re not signed into your Google profile while you’re using a Google product, your search and visit history won’t be logged to your profile. Your browser could still store history and cookies, but the information won’t be tied to your Google account.
4. Make sure you know what is Google-owned. It sounds obvious, but you might be surprised. Anything with Google in front of it is a company product — or a “G” in the case of GMail and GChat. Others: YouTube, Picasa, Blogger, Orkut and Android.
5. Familiarize yourself. Poke around your Google Dashboard, which puts all its products and privacy options in one place.
-Bryan