People across the globe are experiencing a relentless barrage of attacks impacting their personal privacy and security. If you have never received a notice in the mail stating that your personal information has been compromised, consider yourself one of the lucky few. Protecting against data breaches, identity theft, and even physical threats against you or your family should be a top priority for everyone. While no one can completely escape these threats, this web site puts forth steps you can take to reduce the likelihood of them happening to you. Sorted by category, the content below is routinely updated so check back often. It's a dangerous world out there, follow these steps and don't become the next victim!
Browse to myactivity.google.com. For the three categories shown — Web & App Activity, Location History and YouTube History — set auto-delete to delete activity older than three months.
Browse to myadcenter.google.com/controls and turn off personalized ads.
Browse to myaccount.google.com/accountlinking and unlink accounts that you don't want Google to have access to.
Browse to myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy and under the section "info you can share with others" check your profile and location sharing.
You can find the dashboard by going to Settings > Privacy and then opening up Privacy Dashboard. Tapping on each app individually to see what apps are allowed to access your data and change the settings.
When an Android app is using your phone’s microphone or camera, a small green dot will appear in the top menu bar. Swiping down from the top corner of the screen opens the Quick Settings menu, where you can turn the app’s camera and microphone access off instantly. While that block is temporary, you can enter the individual app’s permissions from here and make the change permanent.
To make the change, go to Settings > Privacy, scroll to Ads, and then tap on Delete advertising ID. It won’t mean you don’t see ads on your phone anymore, just that the ads won’t be based on your behavior and personal data.
When you set up a Voice Match profile on Google Home, your smart speakers will listen for your voice and use it like a fingerprint to identify you. That way, only you can check your calendar, add to your shopping list or watch your YouTube playlist on Nest Hub smart displays. Other people can still use Google Home and can even set up voice profiles with their own Google accounts, but only you will have access to your information.