This is a list of places where Google collects information about you, and is meant to build awareness about privacy. But first, what can Google do with that data?

Though Google has historically been a strong privacy advocate, it does allow for some uses of information it collects, which the company outlines on its privacy page.

How Google can use your info

- We may use personal information to provide the services you’ve requested, including services that display customized content and advertising.

- We may also use personal information for auditing, research and analysis to operate and improve Google technologies and services.

- We may share aggregated non-personal information with third parties outside of Google.

- When we use third parties to assist us in processing your personal information, we require that they comply with our Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

- We may also share information with third parties in limited circumstances, including when complying with legal process, preventing fraud or imminent harm, and ensuring the security of our network and services.

- Google processes personal information on our servers in the United States of America and in other countries. In some cases, we process personal information on a server outside your own country.

If you’re interested in keeping personal information to yourself, then it’s important to recognize touch points where Google is tracking your movements. This list isn’t comprehensive and is in no particular order.

The list

- Gmail: monitors text in all incoming and outgoing messages, displaying sponsored advertising for matched keywords. Depending on how much messaging you process in Gmail this could be a huge output of information to Google.

- Google Analytics: tracks what visitors are doing on your site, which is good for you and for Google.

- Orkut: records what you’re doing with friends and who you choose to associate yourself with.

- Google Search: records every search term you enter and can often be traced back to specific IP addresses. That means Google can forecast what areas of the country are interested in specific topics at specific times. And it makes much of that aggregate information available publicly on its Trends site.

- Picasa: allows you to organize and upload photos, and the metadata you enter about said photos is stored somewhere on Google’s servers.

- Google Toolbar: tracks every place you go on the web unless you disable that option.

- Google Maps: monitors what locations you’re searching and which types of businesses you’re interested in. Incredibly useful for local entrepreneurs.

- Adwords and Adsense: tracks what you’re interested in marketing for your site or business in general, or the types of content you’re posting if you’re a publisher. That can provide competitors with some potentially detailed information on key initiatives.

- Google Checkout: gathers financial information from you to process payments (as well as Adwords and Adsense).

- Google 411 (1-800-GOOG411): records voice commands given to the system, ostensibly for training and refinement purposes. Since the software is transcribing your voice to a data command though, it could easily be repurposed.

- Social Graph API: identifies connections between social networking accounts, which creates a clearer picture of how you represent yourself online and who you associate with.

This list isn’t meant to inspire paranoia, but rather to point out how much information Google could be gathering about you, and to create that awareness. Note that with most of these applications you are in direct control of how much information you volunteer, but withholding information will limit functionality.

Despite adding immense value for its users, a data warehouse with this breadth of scope creates inherent risks. Let’s hope that Google has invested enough in its security architecture to keep that information safe.

Related:

Entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 pm under Google, Internet, Security.

Read more entries by Matt Jansen.
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