Google’s New Settings Will Help You Filter Out Annoying Ads
Online privacy is a funny thing. Some people keep all their accounts locked and erase their history every night, others send out TMI. But privacy settings for websites are more often than not “one size fits all,” and you should really know what works best for you. Recently, Google has been killin’ it with updated security features, like a simplified two-step verification, and they’re back again with a new, sliding scale privacy feature that’s even more amazing.
Google just introduced “My Activity,” a feature that allows you to see exactly what you’ve been doing online. That includes search history, videos you’ve watched on YouTube and anything you’ve done on Chrome. These are all factors that determine which ads you’re seeing as you go through the web. But the cool part of this is that it allows users unprecedented access to which ads they’re seeing as they go through the Internet. So, if you keep seeing ads for kayaks — even though YOU SWEAR you only searched for kayaks ONE TIME — you’ll be able to kill that search. Just delete the search from your Activity history and you’ll never see a kayak ad again. Sayonara, outdoorsy spam!
But this program is unique in that users have to opt in to it, rather than being automatically enrolled in something they had no idea about and have to opt out of. (FINALLY! SOMEONE IS LISTENING TO OUR PRAYERS.) So, if you’re a fiend about your own Internet privacy, do nothing and keep your settings as is. But if you’re into the idea of knowing exactly what you’ve done online, respond to Google’s call and activate My Activity.
Have you discovered anything in your Google history worth sharing? Let us know at @BritandCo!
(h/t Wired, photo via Getty)