Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem - … · Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem So what do all these three mean? ... Truecaller can view the email address associated

Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem

ARRKA CONSULTING

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This guide is a continuation to our blog post ‘Privacy in the Google Ecosystem’ that talks of

why you need to care about your privacy if you use any of Google’s products. This tells you –

in a step-by-step manner -how to turn on the various settings in your Google accounts to

make the most of the privacy options that Google provides you.

Note:

- This guide uses a number of screenshots from Google. Do note that the screens may differ

based on user, OS, browser, and location. So the screenshots presented in this guide may

not be exactly as those that you see on your screen. There may be a slight variance.

- Various privacy related pages of Google can be reached in multiple ways. We have

presented only one such approach. You may find other ways too.

- Disclaimer: This document addresses the MAIN concerns around privacy and how they can

be handled. It does not purport to be a COMPREHENSIVE privacy guide.

To maximize your privacy with Google where possible, you need to basically manage two key

aspects:

A. The information that Google stores about you

B. The information that Google shares about you with external (non-Google) entities

A. Information That Google Stores About You

Let us begin by first checking what information about you Google has already stored.

To do this, sign into your Google account using any of the Google applications that you use

(for eg, Gmail)

Once you have signed in you will see your icon on the top

right corner. Usually, Google uses the first letter of your

name. For eg, if you are Rohan, you will most likely see an

‘R’, like in the screenshot on the right:

When you click on the ‘R’, the following screen pops up:



Click on ‘My Account’. Takes you to your account settings screen as below:

Click on ‘personal info’. The following screen comes up where you can see all the personal

info that you have filled in. We have marked out which of this info is mandatory and which is

not. Think very carefully before you provide the info that is not mandatory.



Our Recommendation:

- DO provide a recovery email and phone – they help in letting Google provide you

enhanced security services.

- Under ‘About me’, minimize what info you provide and what others can see about

you. For eg, avoid stating your gender, do not display year of birth and don’t provide

any other data.

- Do NOT share your location



Privacy Checkup

Next use the ‘Privacy Checkup’ facility provided by Google.

Go to: My Account > Personal info and Privacy > Privacy Checkup and click on ‘Get Started’:

You will now see a screen as below:

The following screen comes up where you can see and edit not only what others see about

you but also what information Google stores about you:



Our Recommendation for the above settings:

Web & App Activity – Disable. When you do this, Google stops recording these

activities of yours.

Youtube Search History – Disable. When you do this, Google stops recording what you

search on YouTube

Youtube Watch History – Disable. When you do this, Google stops recording what you

watch on YouTube

Location History – Disable. When you do this, Google stops tracking your location.

Note that disabling this means you will stop getting location-specific ads or search

results.

Device Information – Keep it ON. Disabling this tracking will stop Google from tracking

your devices. It is advisable to have this active so that you can check if a new unknown

device logs into your account.

Voice & Audio Activity – Disable. When you do this, Google stops from using your

Voice & Audio activity to fine-tune results.



The section below shows you how the above is done:

Turn off the switches highlighted above.

For e.g., when you turn off the switch for Web & App activity, the following screen comes up:



When you click on Pause, that particular activity or history will get listed into the disabled list

(as shown in the screenshot below):



Next we move on to the Ads section as below:



Once you are done with this you will see the following screen:





Security Checkup

Next, we move on to doing a ‘Security Checkup’.

Click on ‘Visit Security Checkup’.

Google asks you to check your recovery information. It asks you to feed in a mobile number

and an alternate email ID if you have not already done so. If you have, it asks you to review

these details. Check out the screenshot below:

Next, move to checking on all your connected devices. Here you can check and confirm if they

are indeed your own devices that are signed in and accessing your Google account – and not

some rogue or unknown devices. In the screenshot below, the user uses a Mac and an iPhone

to access Google:



For additional information, click on the drop down arrow and you can see when this device

was accessed and from which location too. For e.g.:



If you think that something looks suspicious, then click on ‘Something looks wrong’ and

Google will ask you to change your password. If it looks fine, then click on ‘Looks good’ and

move ahead.

Next Google takes you to check your account permissions. This is important as this is where

you can see which Google apps and 3rd Party Apps access your Google Account information.

There is also a description of what the apps have access to. If you click on the dropdown arrow

next to each app, you will see details of the access that the app has (see screenshot below)



If you see a Google App or a 3rd Party App that you don’t recognize or don’t want to share

information with, then just click on ‘Remove’. Google will stop sharing information with that

App.

How to remove data that Google has collected until now?

1. In your ‘My Account’ screen go to my activity as show in the screenshot below



2. This would show all your activity that is getting stored with Google. Now if you want

to delete the data for all activity so that all your information is private, click on Delete

activity by (see screenshot below)

3. On the screen that comes up you can delete the activity for a fixed period or for all

time - which means your entire history will be deleted. You can also select which

activity you want to delete, either a selected activity or all activities (see screenshot

below)



4. Now, for example, if you want to delete all history for Ads. Then select product from

the drop down and select the duration to be deleted

5. Google will ask you to reconfirm (see screenshot below)



6. Click Delete and you are done.

Further on in this guide, we discuss in detail about third party apps and what info google

shares with them



B. The information that Google shares about you with external (non-Google) entities

The above demonstrates what apps have access to what information about you.

But how did they get granted in the first place? To help you understand this better, we took

a few sample applications with varied permissions but before that what are the different

types of permission?

On the Apps connected to your account page, you can see a list of sites and applications.

These are sites and applications to which you’ve granted permission to access your Google

Account, and you can see on this list to what parts of your account they have access.

For example, you might have downloaded an app that helps you schedule workouts with

friends. This application might have requested access to your Google Calendar and Contacts

to suggest times and friends for you to meet up with.

There are several levels of access an application can have to your Google Account, but here

are few examples:

Full Account access: When you grant full Account access, the application can see and

modify nearly all information in your Google Account (but it can’t change your

password, delete your Account, or pay with Google Wallet on your behalf). Certain

Google applications may be listed under full Account access. For example, you might

see that the Google Maps application you downloaded for your iPhone has full

Account access.

View your basic profile information: These apps have access to basic data from

your Account, like your name, email, gender, or country. You might also see

that the app can "Sign you in using your Google Account." That means that you

can sign in to these apps with your Google username and password as long as

you’re signed in to Google, saving you the hassle of remembering new

passwords or creating a new Account.

Read and write access: Permissions for some apps and sites might include read

and write access, which means that they can post information about your

activity on their app or site to Google products you use. For example, you have

an app on your phone that lets you track how far you run. If this app has read

and write access to Google+, it can post the number of KMs you run to your

Google+ page.



Limited Access: Eg: Truecaller

Truecaller is an app which helps to search & identify any phone number, block unwanted calls

or hidden numbers, make calls and see when your friends are available. When you install

Truecaller on your Android phone, it asks you to give it access to your Google Account (see

screenshot below)

When you sign in with your Google Account, it asks for access to some of your information

(as below):



So what do all these three mean?

View your email address: Truecaller can view the email address associated with your

Account

View your basic profile info: Truecaller can view your full name, profile picture and

profile URL. Also access to any publicly available information on your Google+ profile

(if you have one or create one in the future)

Manage your contacts – Truecaller can view and manage your Google contacts

Once you allow this Truecaller will start getting listed as one of the applications getting access

to your information in your Google Account (see screenshot below).

Full Access: Chrome Browser

Chrome is a web browser from Google. When you sign into Chrome it automatically is granted

full access to your Google Account once you sign in with your Google Account. (see

screenshots below)

1. As soon as you download and open Google Chrome, you see the following screen:



2. Once you Accept & Continue it asks you to sign in:

3. Once you sign in it tells you what Chrome will use this for:



4. If you go to your Google Account settings > Apps connected to your account > Manage

Apps – you will see that Chrome has full access to your Google Account



TIP: As a best practice do not allow apps to have full access to your Google Account.

Note: We’d love to get your feedback. Mail us at [email protected]

All brand names, logos and properties are the property of their respective owners.

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Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem - … · Keeping your privacy in the Google Ecosystem So what do all these three mean? ... Truecaller can view the email address associated