Comments on: Google Dashboard Exposes How Google Controls Your Online Life

By: CAP Digisoft

CAP Digisoft — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:13:51 +0000

I have checked my account dashboard. It’s really interesting one.

By: Alysson

Alysson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:59:15 +0000

You probably don’t really want to know. And you never will. Wondering will just drive you insane. ;)

By: Alysson

Alysson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:55:33 +0000

Oh, Alan…you’re always thinkin’! :)

By: Alan Bleiweiss

Alan Bleiweiss — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:15:06 +0000

Arnold, how about you swap those wave invites to someone who can give me a Google Voice invite? I won’t be using it for actual phone calls, just to claim that it’s my personal number and then I can deduct more of my cell phone charges on taxes…

By: arnold

arnold — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:01:57 +0000

@Jim and Ahmad – good that you both like the feature, I like it too but with some reservations. And that was pointed out by Maggie – Google being so powerful with all those data about users.

hey @Allan, I still have a couple of Wave invites, don’t you want one? :-)

@Kim – yes, seeing all those data in the Dashboard for the first gives some sort of peace of mind, but the scare creeps in later when you start thinking, what the? Google knows so much about me?

@andreas – I agree, other social sites that collect information about us should follow Google Dashboard.

@Alyson – I wonder what those things are. Now, I’m scared even more.

By: Alysson

Alysson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:34:15 +0000

It isn’t as if we all didn’t know that Google had this information in the first place. For them to so shamelessly and without reservation provide us with a one-stop shop where we can see some of this information is proof of only one thing: Google compiles an endless amount of data on their users and what they’re willing to admit to and share with us is merely a drop in the bucket.

There’s a lot that Google knows about us and they’re willing to let us know just SOME of the data they compile. What is in the dashboard isn’t scary. It’s what they know that they don’t advertise knowing that we should all be truly afraid of.

By: andreas.wpv

andreas.wpv — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:21:23 +0000

Google provides this info back to us. What other company does this? I think it is an excellent and very user friendly move. They give me detailed insight into the information they collect and even access to change some of that.

Security concerns? The opposite, the data has been there the whole time, it just might help me find out where a leak has been, in case of problems. I wish other companies like facebook, linkedin, twitter would offer me the same.

By: Kim.D

Kim.D — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:20:56 +0000

It is slightly frightening to think about all of the data in the Google cloud and the possibility of it getting into the wrong hands. I’m not sure how much “control” we are gaining of our information through the Google dashboard but knowing what information is there offers a piece of mind.

By: Alan Bleiweiss

Alan Bleiweiss — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:40:54 +0000

@Maggie brings up a good point. Sure, many people gain value by using Google’s plethora of services. Good on Google. Yet it also means the potential exists for massive exposure to prying eyes. Maybe some of that data leaks into the public SERPs. Like the recently exposed fact that some Google Voice messages ended up in public results pages, or how it was recently clarified that if you provide a link on your web site to one of your Google Docs files, that file can end up in the SERPs as well.

How many people actually knew they had to manually set your Google Voice mail to opt OUT of being exposed? How many business owners who are barely able to use a computer, aware that if they otherwise innocently link to a Google Doc file to share with their clients, that it exposes the file to the entire web?

The problem is that the vast majority of web users are barely computer literate. (Which explains why Internet Explorer is the leading browser of course.)

And in addition to making Google massively powerful, all that data in the Google cloud means one point of vulnerability instead of several. So the exposure risk climbs exponentially.

I’m very happy to see the new Google Dashboard and it’s ability to wipe out some of that data. Personally I’ll be checking it regularly. But it will NOT motivate me to ever use Google Docs, or heaven forbid, Google Wave, let alone 80% of the other offerings they have.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:49:08 +0000

I think what’s scary about the information is that, while there are privacy laws preventing Google from using the information maliciously, the information is out there and – potentially – could be accessed by the wrong person. It may sound a bit ‘conspiracy’ theory, but I think it is something to think about.That information makes them very powerful.