5 ms·

What Google knows about you

169 points by udp 16y ago

16s 16y ago
I have no cookie and I don't want one :) they also complain that I don't let them execute JavaScript in my browser: You cannot view or edit interests when you do not have an 'id' cookie. Opt-in to get a cookie. JavaScript is disabled. Enable JavaScript to be able to edit your preferences.
danudey 16y ago
Apparently nothing - I have no id cookie. I assume this means I'm not tracked at all? Maybe I've just never clicked an ad on this laptop.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
  - danudey 16y ago
    I do use google as my primary as well. This is a fairly new laptop, and while I've googled quite a bit I've never done any sort of opting out. Maybe it helps that I'm not logged in to my Google account?
    - udp 16y ago
      Crap, I think I deleted my last comment by accident. I'm not logged into my google account either, that's strange! Here's what it shows for me: http://ledev.org/~udp/categories.png http://ledev.org/~udp/categories.png
- ElliotH 16y ago
  I don't think its related to ads clicked necessarily, I never click them, but my results seem to be related primarily to the searches I perform.
  - magicalist 16y ago
    according to http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy/ads/ http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy/ads/ the "interest categories" are based on the sites you actually visit that have doubleclick ads, not from search terms (though there's an obvious correlation between the two, I suppose).
    - potatolicious 16y ago
      It's blank for me - looks like AdBlock Plus is doing its job.
markszcz 16y ago
At least Google gives you a way to Opt Out =) (http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/opt-out.html?hl=en http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/opt-out.html?hl=e...) Apparently they where tracking me.
bitskits 16y ago
Pretty accurate actually, at least for me. I read the title of this post as a cliffhanger, promising a shocking ending, but it doesn't really do it for me. I'd rather have them show me relevant ads than random ones, personally. I opted out for a while but found opting in to be the better experience for me. To each their own, I guess.
- technomancy 16y ago
  It had American Football and Cooking for me, neither of which I can remember ever expressing interest in. It nailed the programming stuff except for conflating Java the language and Java the virtual machine, but hey, even humans often make that mistake.
  - tkhoven 16y ago
    I wonder how much of that is due to a simple misinterpretation of some of the sites you visit. For example, if the fairly recent article on Google's "beatbox" (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1952356 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1952356) and my subsequent searches led to my purported interest in "Arts & Entertainment - Music & Audio - Urban & Hip-Hop - Rap & Hip-Hop".
ximeng 16y ago
Oops! This link appears to be broken. I wonder if they know I've got doubleclick in my hosts file.
- daxelrod 16y ago
  The URL redirects through a doubleclick domain. That's why it's broken for you.
barrkel 16y ago
"No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far." I use AdBlockPlus, Ghostery and OptimizeGoogle in FF to reduce the amount of crap I get served, as well as to rewrite e.g. Google search results to remove their link tracking.
- zalew 16y ago
  "No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far." Same here, but only adblock plus, and I have google history disabled. I've used ghostery for some time. I also delete all cookies from time to time.
nyellin 16y ago
Google Search has bigger privacy issues. IP Addresses are anonymized after 9 months, but your search history is stored forever in anonymized form. If you have ever searched for yourself on Google, or for a unique set of information that can identify you as the origin of your searches, then you have to trust Google's security team and future lawmakers to keep your information private. Yes, most people don't care, and I'm not any better. I don't have anything incriminating or too embarrassing in my search history, so I use Google and grit my teeth whenever privacy comes up. I tried DuckDuckGo for a week, but I eventually fell back to Google. Sources and relevant links: http://www.google.com/privacy/faq.html http://www.google.com/privacy/faq.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_scandal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_scandal
- henryw 16y ago
  What about bing? If they have better privacy, then they can use it as a selling point to capture market share. A quick google search on google vs bing privacy policy seems to favor bing. I have the disconnect chrome extension to block google tracking.
  - drivebyacct2 16y ago
    I have Disconnect and there will still a lot of categories. They seem to direct you to the IBA extension to permanently opt out. There's another that supposedly works on more sites, but last time I tried it, it and Disconnect got into a race and crashed Chrome immediately, even after restarting it several times. IBA Opt-Out: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gbiekjoijknlhijdjbaadobpkdhmoebb?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gbiekjoijknlhijd... Keep My Opt-Outs: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hhnjdplhmcnkiecampfdgfjilccfpfoe?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hhnjdplhmcnkieca... Do I need both?
- wdewind 16y ago
  I agree that I could care less about all of this stuff, it's the search data that matters. Imagine taking a look at a month of someone's search data, it would be revealing (it might even be revealing to look back over years of your own search history). But as for the question of forever anonymization I think you have misunderstood: The data will not be traceable back to a single computer or user. The link between searches is the IP address, and it would be pretty hard to identify a single IP address without the final two octets (ie 255.255.255.255 -> 255.255). It definitely wouldn't be impossible (nothing is), but I would bet it would be within the level of difficulty that many other more privacy-violating things would. Furthermore, my ISP changes my IP address very frequently (my guess would be about every 48 hours), and even if it was static, I would not have had the same IP for a very long time (moved frequently, etc). The cookie is the only link between the IP addresses, once you've ambiguated the IP's it's pretty hard to connect the numerous IPs one person would have to people. The sources you submitted were not very explanatory and have nothing to do with Google, respectively. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/03/google_to_anony/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/03/google_to_anony/
izendejas 16y ago
It seems to be machine-dependent? I remember opting out a while back at work, but my mobile phone definitely shows me a profile, albeit one that isn't totally accurate. In any case, you guys should also checkout Bynamite. They've got this interesting mission to give users more control over what advertisers see. I'm all for that not just from a privacy standpoint, but also from a relevancy one.
dmn001 16y ago
Nothing. I have 'google analytics opt-out plugin' firefox addon, as well as adblock plus. "Cookies are disabled Your browser's cookies seem to be disabled. Ads Preferences will not work until you enable cookies in your browser."
tatianajosephy 16y ago
Funny... my listed interests are in business and tech (true), and I've been identified as a male (not true). From Google: "Based on the websites you've visited, we think you're interested in topics that mostly interest men." Ouch!
- jrockway 16y ago
  I wonder what Google thinks about my searches for shoes :)
rrrhys 16y ago
It's probably just a generic one if HN is referrer ;) Computers & Electronics - Software - Business & Productivity Software Computers & Electronics - Software - Open Source Computers & Electronics - Software - Operating Systems - Mac OS News Online Communities - File Sharing & Hosting Online Communities - Photo & Video Sharing - Photo & Image Sharing Demographics - Gender - Male
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
  - Samuel_Michon 16y ago
    From the Ads Preferences page: "Google does not associate sensitive interest categories with your ads preferences."
benologist 16y ago
A better title might be "Some of what Google admits to know about you". There's really no way to verify the sum of what they know is you like ponies, especially when they have so much data to draw conclusions from.
thought_alarm 16y ago
Apparently someone who's interested in "Superhero Films" has been using my Google account.
Samuel_Michon 16y ago
Google thinks I have a split personality: In Firefox: Humor, Venture Capital, Computers & Electronics, Handhelds & Mobile Devices, Internet Software, Operating Systems - Mac OS, Currencies & Foreign Exchange, Smart Phones, Technology News, Dictionaries & Encyclopedias. In Chrome: Movie Reference, Music & Audio, Rock Music, Online Video. As my main browser I use Firefox, without Flash plug-in. When I need to view video, I open Chrome, which has Flash built-in. That explains why the information from the two Google cookies differ so much.
jonknee 16y ago
It says "You have opted out of Google's interest-based advertising. No interest categories are associated with your browser." Sounds good to me.
p4bl0 16y ago
I use Google on a daily basis and I'm always logged in. Still, "No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far"... Maybe it's because of adblock+?
thesethings 16y ago
OK, this was more fun than freaky. It thinks I'm male (I'm a girl). It knows about my horrible novelty YouTube habit (tons of humor/comedy/tv comedy categories). #guilty It thinks I have pets/cats. (Nope. but given how many novelty youtube vids probably involve cats, not crazy.) And yeah, lots of finance/tech/business categories. For now, I'm leaving them all in and not removing. And sidebar to those who say this isn't everything Google knows about you. You're right. But this is just about ads. The main Privacy Dashboard for account stuff is here: http://www.google.com/dashboard http://www.google.com/dashboard
zelandpanther 16y ago
Interesting...it can be nice tool : )
ck2 16y ago
Oh the irony Google Ads Preferences Cookies are disabled Your browser's cookies seem to be disabled. Ads Preferences will not work until you enable cookies in your browser. How do I enable cookies? This is why it should be off by default and opt-in only.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
s3graham 16y ago
I like both coffee and tea! The introspection possibilities!
mkjones 16y ago
I love how the first thing so many people do is post their results here, where they can be associated with their YC handles. Opt-out privacy, I guess. That being said, I suspect there's not a lot of variance among most of the commenters on here, so maybe it's not that interesting.
mattwdelong 16y ago
All interests associated with me are entirely accurate. Well done Google, I applaud you.
blntechie 16y ago
Am I the only one where it says to Opt In instead of Opt out by default? It don't have any categories for me even after Opting in. I'm signed into my account. Adbllock Plus working great?
tintin 16y ago
And around 60 other companies know about my browser: http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ http://www.aboutads.info/choices/
baxter 16y ago
"Google does not associate sensitive interest categories with your ads preferences." Does this really mean "We know more about you, but we're not going to tell you what it is?"
- wisty 16y ago
  It means, even though they could figure out who is more likely to click on, say, BDSM ads, they don't, because that's how classy they are.
program 16y ago
"No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far." Thanks to adblock, noscript, greasemonkey and Google history deactivated.
scrrr 16y ago
Same URL gives me different results on the phone and on the desktop. Apparently Google doesn't link them? I'm using the same GMail-Account on both though.
Semiapies 16y ago
Odd - I wonder why it thought I was into "Home improvement/Flooring".

169 points by udp 16y ago

16s 16y ago

I have no cookie and I don't want one :) they also complain that I don't let them execute JavaScript in my browser: You cannot view or edit interests when you do not have an 'id' cookie. Opt-in to get a cookie. JavaScript is disabled. Enable JavaScript to be able to edit your preferences.

danudey 16y ago

Apparently nothing - I have no id cookie. I assume this means I'm not tracked at all? Maybe I've just never clicked an ad on this laptop.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
- danudey 16y ago
  I do use google as my primary as well. This is a fairly new laptop, and while I've googled quite a bit I've never done any sort of opting out. Maybe it helps that I'm not logged in to my Google account?
  - udp 16y ago
    Crap, I think I deleted my last comment by accident. I'm not logged into my google account either, that's strange! Here's what it shows for me: http://ledev.org/~udp/categories.png http://ledev.org/~udp/categories.png
ElliotH 16y ago
I don't think its related to ads clicked necessarily, I never click them, but my results seem to be related primarily to the searches I perform.
- magicalist 16y ago
  according to http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy/ads/ http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy/ads/ the "interest categories" are based on the sites you actually visit that have doubleclick ads, not from search terms (though there's an obvious correlation between the two, I suppose).
  - potatolicious 16y ago
    It's blank for me - looks like AdBlock Plus is doing its job.

markszcz 16y ago

At least Google gives you a way to Opt Out =) (http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/opt-out.html?hl=en http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/opt-out.html?hl=e...) Apparently they where tracking me.

bitskits 16y ago

Pretty accurate actually, at least for me. I read the title of this post as a cliffhanger, promising a shocking ending, but it doesn't really do it for me. I'd rather have them show me relevant ads than random ones, personally. I opted out for a while but found opting in to be the better experience for me. To each their own, I guess.

technomancy 16y ago
It had American Football and Cooking for me, neither of which I can remember ever expressing interest in. It nailed the programming stuff except for conflating Java the language and Java the virtual machine, but hey, even humans often make that mistake.
- tkhoven 16y ago
  I wonder how much of that is due to a simple misinterpretation of some of the sites you visit. For example, if the fairly recent article on Google's "beatbox" (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1952356 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1952356) and my subsequent searches led to my purported interest in "Arts & Entertainment - Music & Audio - Urban & Hip-Hop - Rap & Hip-Hop".

ximeng 16y ago

Oops! This link appears to be broken. I wonder if they know I've got doubleclick in my hosts file.

daxelrod 16y ago
The URL redirects through a doubleclick domain. That's why it's broken for you.

barrkel 16y ago

"No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far." I use AdBlockPlus, Ghostery and OptimizeGoogle in FF to reduce the amount of crap I get served, as well as to rewrite e.g. Google search results to remove their link tracking.

zalew 16y ago
"No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far." Same here, but only adblock plus, and I have google history disabled. I've used ghostery for some time. I also delete all cookies from time to time.

nyellin 16y ago

Google Search has bigger privacy issues. IP Addresses are anonymized after 9 months, but your search history is stored forever in anonymized form. If you have ever searched for yourself on Google, or for a unique set of information that can identify you as the origin of your searches, then you have to trust Google's security team and future lawmakers to keep your information private. Yes, most people don't care, and I'm not any better. I don't have anything incriminating or too embarrassing in my search history, so I use Google and grit my teeth whenever privacy comes up. I tried DuckDuckGo for a week, but I eventually fell back to Google. Sources and relevant links: http://www.google.com/privacy/faq.html http://www.google.com/privacy/faq.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_scandal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_scandal

henryw 16y ago
What about bing? If they have better privacy, then they can use it as a selling point to capture market share. A quick google search on google vs bing privacy policy seems to favor bing. I have the disconnect chrome extension to block google tracking.
- drivebyacct2 16y ago
  I have Disconnect and there will still a lot of categories. They seem to direct you to the IBA extension to permanently opt out. There's another that supposedly works on more sites, but last time I tried it, it and Disconnect got into a race and crashed Chrome immediately, even after restarting it several times. IBA Opt-Out: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gbiekjoijknlhijdjbaadobpkdhmoebb?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gbiekjoijknlhijd... Keep My Opt-Outs: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hhnjdplhmcnkiecampfdgfjilccfpfoe?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hhnjdplhmcnkieca... Do I need both?
wdewind 16y ago
I agree that I could care less about all of this stuff, it's the search data that matters. Imagine taking a look at a month of someone's search data, it would be revealing (it might even be revealing to look back over years of your own search history). But as for the question of forever anonymization I think you have misunderstood: The data will not be traceable back to a single computer or user. The link between searches is the IP address, and it would be pretty hard to identify a single IP address without the final two octets (ie 255.255.255.255 -> 255.255). It definitely wouldn't be impossible (nothing is), but I would bet it would be within the level of difficulty that many other more privacy-violating things would. Furthermore, my ISP changes my IP address very frequently (my guess would be about every 48 hours), and even if it was static, I would not have had the same IP for a very long time (moved frequently, etc). The cookie is the only link between the IP addresses, once you've ambiguated the IP's it's pretty hard to connect the numerous IPs one person would have to people. The sources you submitted were not very explanatory and have nothing to do with Google, respectively. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/03/google_to_anony/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/03/google_to_anony/

izendejas 16y ago

It seems to be machine-dependent? I remember opting out a while back at work, but my mobile phone definitely shows me a profile, albeit one that isn't totally accurate. In any case, you guys should also checkout Bynamite. They've got this interesting mission to give users more control over what advertisers see. I'm all for that not just from a privacy standpoint, but also from a relevancy one.

dmn001 16y ago

Nothing. I have 'google analytics opt-out plugin' firefox addon, as well as adblock plus. "Cookies are disabled Your browser's cookies seem to be disabled. Ads Preferences will not work until you enable cookies in your browser."

tatianajosephy 16y ago

Funny... my listed interests are in business and tech (true), and I've been identified as a male (not true). From Google: "Based on the websites you've visited, we think you're interested in topics that mostly interest men." Ouch!

jrockway 16y ago
I wonder what Google thinks about my searches for shoes :)

rrrhys 16y ago

It's probably just a generic one if HN is referrer ;) Computers & Electronics - Software - Business & Productivity Software Computers & Electronics - Software - Open Source Computers & Electronics - Software - Operating Systems - Mac OS News Online Communities - File Sharing & Hosting Online Communities - Photo & Video Sharing - Photo & Image Sharing Demographics - Gender - Male

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
- Samuel_Michon 16y ago
  From the Ads Preferences page: "Google does not associate sensitive interest categories with your ads preferences."

benologist 16y ago

A better title might be "Some of what Google admits to know about you". There's really no way to verify the sum of what they know is you like ponies, especially when they have so much data to draw conclusions from.

thought_alarm 16y ago

Apparently someone who's interested in "Superhero Films" has been using my Google account.

Samuel_Michon 16y ago

Google thinks I have a split personality: In Firefox: Humor, Venture Capital, Computers & Electronics, Handhelds & Mobile Devices, Internet Software, Operating Systems - Mac OS, Currencies & Foreign Exchange, Smart Phones, Technology News, Dictionaries & Encyclopedias. In Chrome: Movie Reference, Music & Audio, Rock Music, Online Video. As my main browser I use Firefox, without Flash plug-in. When I need to view video, I open Chrome, which has Flash built-in. That explains why the information from the two Google cookies differ so much.

jonknee 16y ago

It says "You have opted out of Google's interest-based advertising. No interest categories are associated with your browser." Sounds good to me.

p4bl0 16y ago

I use Google on a daily basis and I'm always logged in. Still, "No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far"... Maybe it's because of adblock+?

thesethings 16y ago

OK, this was more fun than freaky. It thinks I'm male (I'm a girl). It knows about my horrible novelty YouTube habit (tons of humor/comedy/tv comedy categories). #guilty It thinks I have pets/cats. (Nope. but given how many novelty youtube vids probably involve cats, not crazy.) And yeah, lots of finance/tech/business categories. For now, I'm leaving them all in and not removing. And sidebar to those who say this isn't everything Google knows about you. You're right. But this is just about ads. The main Privacy Dashboard for account stuff is here: http://www.google.com/dashboard http://www.google.com/dashboard

zelandpanther 16y ago

Interesting...it can be nice tool : )

ck2 16y ago

Oh the irony Google Ads Preferences Cookies are disabled Your browser's cookies seem to be disabled. Ads Preferences will not work until you enable cookies in your browser. How do I enable cookies? This is why it should be off by default and opt-in only.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

s3graham 16y ago

I like both coffee and tea! The introspection possibilities!

mkjones 16y ago

I love how the first thing so many people do is post their results here, where they can be associated with their YC handles. Opt-out privacy, I guess. That being said, I suspect there's not a lot of variance among most of the commenters on here, so maybe it's not that interesting.

mattwdelong 16y ago

All interests associated with me are entirely accurate. Well done Google, I applaud you.

blntechie 16y ago

Am I the only one where it says to Opt In instead of Opt out by default? It don't have any categories for me even after Opting in. I'm signed into my account. Adbllock Plus working great?

tintin 16y ago

And around 60 other companies know about my browser: http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ http://www.aboutads.info/choices/

baxter 16y ago

"Google does not associate sensitive interest categories with your ads preferences." Does this really mean "We know more about you, but we're not going to tell you what it is?"

wisty 16y ago
It means, even though they could figure out who is more likely to click on, say, BDSM ads, they don't, because that's how classy they are.

program 16y ago

"No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far." Thanks to adblock, noscript, greasemonkey and Google history deactivated.

scrrr 16y ago

Same URL gives me different results on the phone and on the desktop. Apparently Google doesn't link them? I'm using the same GMail-Account on both though.

Semiapies 16y ago

Odd - I wonder why it thought I was into "Home improvement/Flooring".