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Providing an answer to every possible query is not a novel idea for Google. However, there are certain links that can enable its users to find out what information is available about them online.

Explore what Google knows about you

Google collects information about every user and creates a profile regarding their viewing history. The purpose of this data collection is to promote relevant ads that matches the profile of each user individually. However, users can view and control the information Google has about them by clicking on the link below:

http://www.google.com/settings/ads/

Google Analytics is a tool which collects user data focusing on what type of pages a user is accessing on publishers website. It also keeps track of the frequency of visits and the duration of your stay on the website. The user has the option to disable this setting i.e. they can opt out of this option if they are not comfortable with their data being collected by Google. Google opt out add-on is designed to be compatible with Chrome, Internet Explorer 11, Safari, Firefox and Opera.

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Also Read: Google’s interactive program for kids

Users can view their location history through a map

All Android users are connected with Google maps and they can track their location history as the mobile device is sending their location to Google. One can view their complete location history by clicking on the link below:

https://maps.google.com/locationhistory

Google search history is also accessible

Every search and every click is being saved by Google for every single user. Additionally, the tech giant also records when you click on any ad posted on Google page. The company records this data by maintaining a log called Google web history controls.

https://www.google.com/history/

By clicking on the link above, the user receives a page which provides a date wise daily viewing history. One can select back dates and also find out about previous search history.

Quick Read: Gmail flaunts new feature

Google provides a monthly security and privacy report to their users

The company also provides an account activity report to its users that provides information regarding all the services they are using. You can also enable the option to receive a monthly report that will be provided to you by Google on your given email address.

Please click on the following link to access your g mail account:

https://www.google.com/settings/dashboard

Information regarding the type of data being accessed by all apps

The activity page discussed earlier also has information which entails a list of all the apps which have access to your data. In addition, it also provides an insight into the type of data being accessed. The users can view the type of permissions being provided to any app and also gives an option to change the permission settings by removing their data access. For instance, WhatsApp Messenger has an access to Google drive or Temple Run Game has an access to Google Drive and Google Play etc.

This activity can be performed by using the following link:

https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions

Read More: Wikileaks – US, UK keeping a tab at Pakistani citizens data through access to NADRA

Remove data from Google

Google allows users to export their data out of their system. This includes every type of data one can have on their web page including emails, contacts, drive files, profile information, YouTube history, pictures etc. This option allows the user to archive the data using Google products. It gives a notification to select a Google product to be included in the user’s archive. This archive can only be viewed by the user alone.

One can export the data by using the link below:

https://www.google.com/takeout 

Lastly, Google also gives an additional bonus to its users by keeping track of their YouTube searches which can be accessed by using the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/feed/history/search_history