Google and the Privacy of your Web Search

On 2012 03 01, Google will change their privacy policies, unifying them throughout all the sites under their umbrella. That includes your web searches, your YouTube preferences and just about anything you've ever done under the Google logo.

And they intend on taking that data and making it available to third party concerns. You have no say in any of this. NONE.

You can, however, do one thing before the policy change.

You can delete your entire web search history.

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How to delete your Google Web Search history before Google makes it public on 2012 03 01

1. If you have a Google account, sign into it.

2. Click on your name in the top right. It calls up a dialog box. Click on Account Settings.

3. In Account Settings, scroll down to Services, and click "Go to web history" at the bottom.

4. You have to sign in again for your Web history page.

5. Once in your Web History page, click on the button that says "Remove all web history."

6. When you are asked to confirm, click "Ok."

7. This deletes your web history, and pauses your Web history until you resume it.

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This was posted to EFF.org, but right now EFF has apparently gone down in toto. Something somebody didn't want you to know.

This affects you.

Every time you looked up something kinky, or referenced UrbanDictionary.com to work out the meaning of some phrase you've never heard of; every time you logged onto OKCupid; every holiday destination you researched, every political site you visited, every porn video you ever looked up on Google, every toy you've looked for, every outfit you've bought or got at auction on eBay, every work of erotica you have ever written and read ... all those searches will be made available to third party sources, with no input from you AT ALL.

Unless you destroy that Web search now, and before the end of 2012 02 29, one week from now.