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This is a great point that often gets glossed over in these discussions. Facebook and Google primarily get value from your personal information by hoarding it a

This is a great point that often gets glossed over in these discussions. Facebook and Google primarily get value from your personal information by hoarding it and treating both it and the data they derive from it as proprietary.

gorgoiler 7y ago
The last time I used Google Takeout to download my data I got all my emails, custom maps, YouTube uploads etc., as one might expect, but what I couldn’t find were: * all the URLs I’ve visited with my Google cookie loaded * all the searches I’ve ever done * all the ads I’ve clicked on. I know ad tech mechanics can be counter intuitive but I’m surprised they don’t have that information for me to download, especially when ads and search are the primary Google functions. Maybe these logs are pseudonymized in such a way that google can’t tie them to my identity?
- judge2020 7y ago
  They're technically not linked to your Google account I believe, https://policies.google.com/technologies/anonymization?hl=en https://policies.google.com/technologies/anonymization?hl=en (although we've seen how anonymized data can still be de-anonymized https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20513521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20513521 )
  - lotu 7y ago
    Correct google keeps two separate cookies one for ads and one for everything else. This was part of the agreement with the FTC when they bought Double Click. They are prohibited from joining those two cookies by that agreement.
  - gorgoiler 7y ago
    Thanks, that’s useful and interesting. Good on Google for keeping the two activities (and cookies) separate. [Edit: oof, I found my search history after all so most of this is moot. It’s under “Other Google Activity” ... “Web & App Activity”. I guess it would be nice to see the words “Search Activity” a little more prominently, but still, my bad.] I can’t help but feeling that both cookies (and their associated histories) count equally as personal data. Anyone who gets hold of my devices can use the cookies to get my history. I can use the cookies to get some of my history in some form or other (I can’t get my own search history, but I can see it partially in typeaheads on the desktop site.) It feels half hearted that I can’t pull up the entire dataset, but then I would surely be grateful that no one else can do the same thing if they steal my login. (I also accept that some of this is just me arrogantly pushing back on being told “no!” by Auntie Google, when I feel entitled to a yes.)

gorgoiler 7y ago

The last time I used Google Takeout to download my data I got all my emails, custom maps, YouTube uploads etc., as one might expect, but what I couldn’t find were: * all the URLs I’ve visited with my Google cookie loaded * all the searches I’ve ever done * all the ads I’ve clicked on. I know ad tech mechanics can be counter intuitive but I’m surprised they don’t have that information for me to download, especially when ads and search are the primary Google functions. Maybe these logs are pseudonymized in such a way that google can’t tie them to my identity?

judge2020 7y ago
They're technically not linked to your Google account I believe, https://policies.google.com/technologies/anonymization?hl=en https://policies.google.com/technologies/anonymization?hl=en (although we've seen how anonymized data can still be de-anonymized https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20513521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20513521 )
- lotu 7y ago
  Correct google keeps two separate cookies one for ads and one for everything else. This was part of the agreement with the FTC when they bought Double Click. They are prohibited from joining those two cookies by that agreement.
- gorgoiler 7y ago
  Thanks, that’s useful and interesting. Good on Google for keeping the two activities (and cookies) separate. [Edit: oof, I found my search history after all so most of this is moot. It’s under “Other Google Activity” ... “Web & App Activity”. I guess it would be nice to see the words “Search Activity” a little more prominently, but still, my bad.] I can’t help but feeling that both cookies (and their associated histories) count equally as personal data. Anyone who gets hold of my devices can use the cookies to get my history. I can use the cookies to get some of my history in some form or other (I can’t get my own search history, but I can see it partially in typeaheads on the desktop site.) It feels half hearted that I can’t pull up the entire dataset, but then I would surely be grateful that no one else can do the same thing if they steal my login. (I also accept that some of this is just me arrogantly pushing back on being told “no!” by Auntie Google, when I feel entitled to a yes.)