Privacy advocates aren't pleased with Google Web History, which records the sites you visit, searches you make, images and videos you view, and even sites you haven't been to but may like. When you create a Google account, the option to use Web History is checked by default. Opting out doesn't mean Google doesn't collect the information, just that you don't have such easy access to it.
It feels like I've been using Gmail for five or six years, but I found my Web history begins in January 2007, according to Google. The entries since that time are far from a complete log of all my searches and surfing; apparently, events are recorded only while you're logged into your Google account.
To open your Web history, sign into your account, click My Account in the top-right corner of the main Google screen, and choose Web History under My products. The default view is All History. Your other view options include Web, Images, News, Videos, Maps, Blogs, and even the Sponsored Links you were served up, just in case you missed them the first time.
View a record of your online activities in Google Web History.
(Credit: Google)I was ready to find all sorts of embarrassing information about myself in the logs, but they were really kinda boring, which probably indicates their accuracy. I did find several entries that didn't belong—obviously, someone borrowed my PC while I was logged into my Google account. To remove unwanted items in your history, click Remove items in the left pane, check the entry or entries you wish to excise, and click Remove.
To surf without being tracked, click the left pane's Pause button. (Frankly, I'm inclined to sign off the account altogether.) When you're ready to go back on the record, click Resume.
One of my favorite Web History features is Trends, which shows your top 10 queries, sites, and clicks over the past seven days, month, year, or all recorded. I had fun trying to figure out why I did almost three times more searching last April than I did the previous October, or why I've never searched at 2 a.m. A real shocker for me was that I search more often on Sundays than I do on Fridays. I would've never guessed that one.
Get a view of your search history by hour, day, or month in Google Web History's Trends.
(Credit: Google)Maybe I should have qualms about anybody keeping such close tabs on me, but the fact is, most or all of this information is tracked whether or not I sign up for the service, unless I use an anonymizing service or product. About a year ago, I described how to customize the history settings in Firefox and Internet Explorer, and all browsers let you wipe your Web history clean, but these settings don't affect Google's servers.
Google's privacy policy offers a link to DoubleClick's opt-out cookie, but the best solution is to disable cookies altogether. Doing so cripples many of the Web's most useful features, in my book. So I'll just keep my surfing semipublic and hope Google doesn't suffer the security breach of all time.
First it was the Google Toolbar, then it was an integrated search box in the corner of my browser. It's no secret Google's been slowly attempting to take control of our computers for years. The desktop search is a testament to that. What's really creepy is the new Web History tracking service Google quietly rolled out last week. This new service doesn't go after items on your computer, rather what you're looking at online.
Google Web History archives everything you've searched for (while signed in to your Google account), and gives you a bookmarklet to bookmark sites you like. The whole idea is to make the browsing experience something you can search through and access from any computer, anywhere. Search history has items listed by time of search, with the most recent ones on a front page.
Results show up by day. To bookmark any item, you can just 'star' it.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Searches are broken down by Google category like Web, Images, Maps, and (the now misnamed) Froogle. Users can also see how many searches they've done by month, day, and hour. Drilling down deeper, you can also go in and click on the number of searches and see the top sites and results. It's a total analytic overload.
The real creepy part in all this is the integration you get if you have the Google Toolbar installed on your browser. This will track every single site you're visiting, and apply the same aforementioned analytics so you can keep track of which sites or services you're using the most. Sure, we've had browsing history for years, but it's always been localized. It's a little alarming to see it online, regardless of the fact it can't be shared with others.
The good news is that users can opt-out of Google's Web History program, along with the capability to delete any item that's been archived. The bad news is that if you have a Google account, all your search activity has been tracked since last week.
For more shots of the service, keep reading.
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