You'll be surprised about the amount of data Google and Facebook keep.iStock
Data Consultant and Web Developer Dylan Curran's exposé on the level of information that both Facebook and Google have on social media users is about to give you a scare.
On a mission to spread "technical awareness and improve digital etiquette", Curran has published the results of his extensive research in The Guardian.
In the first revelation that will, to quote Curran, "freak you out", he makes a point that Google knows where you've been.
"Google stores your location (if you have location tracking turned on) every time you turn on your phone. You can see a timeline of where you’ve been from the very first day you started using Google on your phone," Waterford native Curran warns.
Thread: an exquisite breakdown using real-life examples of how @Facebook and @Google exploited your trust to quietly create a decade-long dossier of your most private activities. With a bonus: how to download a copy of your own. https://t.co/6AjcMfetMD
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 27, 2018
@Snowden has retweeted me, I'm finally a member of the 'Exiled Whistleblower' club, hopefully @JulianAssange makes room for me in the Ecuadorian Embassy
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 27, 2018
He points out to readers that they can click on this link to see your own data: google.com/maps/timeline?…
That's not even the scary part. Curran mentions that Google knows everything you've ever searched for even if you've deleted it, it knows all the apps you use, it has all of your YouTube history, and - gulp - Google even has built an ad profile based on your data.
Give this a minute to sink in: the data that Google has thus far stored on you could fill millions of Word Documents.
Curran notes that his own history is 5.5GB big - roughly three million Word Docs. Your own can be accessed here.
#DeleteFacebook is not the solution, we need a complete overhaul of how people think about social media and privacy - working hand-in-hand with the largest tech companies, not using a fad hashtag
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) April 1, 2018
And what is this data you might ask? According to Curran, it's "every message you’ve ever sent or been sent, every file you’ve ever sent or been sent, all the contacts in your phone, and all the audio messages you’ve ever sent or been sent."
39. The last week has been incredible, right now is the best time to make change happen. As you guys can see, I need recording equipment to produce high-quality videos - a few donations would go a long way towards helping mehttps://t.co/41H5LQbgZ8
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 30, 2018
To read his piece on The Guardian in full, see here.
You can also read Curran's interviews with CBC here and News.com.au here.