Delete Your Google Browsing History Before It's Too Late!

**Digicom** · 26th February, 2012, 07:00 PM

How To Delete Your Google Browsing History In Three Simple Steps Before It's Too Late To Hide Your Secrets

There is just a week to go until Google controversially changes its privacy policy to allow it to gather store and use personal
information about its users.
But there is one way to stymie the web giant's attempts to build a permanent profile of you that could include personal information
including age, gender and locality.

The new policy which has been criticised by privacy campaigners who have filed a complaint to U.S. regulators comes into affect on March 1.
But before that date you can delete your browsing history and which will limit the extent to which Google records your every move including
your embarrassing secrets.

Heres How:
1. Go to the Google homepage and sign into your account.
Use the dropdown menu under your name in the upper right hand corner to access your settings.
Click On Account Settings Like Below.

2. Next find the section called Services and you'll see a link to View enable or disable web history shown in the red box below.
Click On It.

3. Finally you can remove all of your search details by clicking on Remove Web History shown in the red box below.
Once you have done this your history will remain disabled until you turn it back on.

Although disabling web history will not prevent Google from gathering and storing this information and using it for internal purposes
it does mean the Web giant will anonymise the data in 18 months.
It will also prevent it from certain kinds of uses including sending you customised search results.

If you don't sign in Google will track your searches via the computer's IP address.
The only way to clear your personal history is by signing in.
While it is not known exactly how Google would use your combined information the policy has been widely criticised.
The Center for Digital Democracy has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

It has asked the FTC to sue Google to stop the policy change and to fine the company.
The FTC can impose fines up to $16,000 per day for each violation.
Cecilia Kang of the Washington Post described collation of vast tracts of information as a massive cauldron of data.

Privacy advocates say Google's changes betray users who are not accustomed to having their information shared across different Web sites. she said.
A user of Gmail for instance may send messages about a private meeting with a colleague and may not want the location of that meeting to be thrown
into Google's massive cauldron of data or used for Google's maps application.

Technology site Gizmodo said that the change was the end of Google’s ‘don’t be evil motto.
The site’s Mat Honan wrote:
It means that things you could do in relative anonymity today will be explicitly associated with your name your face, your phone number.

If you use Google's services you have to agree to this new privacy policy.
It is an explicit reversal of its previous policies.
Larry Dignan meanwhile writing on ZDnet.com described the new policy as ‘Big Brotherish

Three simple steps to delete your Google browsing history... before it's too late | Mail Online

**tshirtman** · 26th February, 2012, 07:59 PM

This, keeping your info and passing it onto third parties, isn't a done deal yet,

in the US, the Whitehouse are calling on Google to add a "Do Not Track" browser option,
State attorneys in 36 states recently sent a letter of concern over Google's plan to share personal information,
and Companies like Google and Facebook have signed on to develop guidelines based on the "bill of rights", enforceable by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Code:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17144760

here in Europe, an EU working party has called on Google to hold off with it's changes till it's full impact has been evaluated, and to ensure the European Data Protection Act is being adhered to.
"We call for a pause to ensure that there can be no misunderstanding about Google's commitments to information rights of EU citizens"

Code:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2095962/EU-says-Google-halt-upcoming-privacy-changes.html

**patkins** · 26th February, 2012, 11:00 PM

I erase my history at the end of a session via the spanner symbol top right hand corner. Click on 'Tools' and 'Delete History'.
As much as I like google, I would have no hesitation in moving permanently to Firefox which I use only for DK.

**super jumbe** · 26th February, 2012, 11:01 PM

I have got nothing to hide, I am not worried!!!!!!!!

As long as no 1 gets my bank details **** the rest…..

**happy_highlander** · 27th February, 2012, 07:36 AM

Originally Posted by patkins

I erase my history at the end of a session via the spanner symbol top right hand corner. Click on 'Tools' and 'Delete History'.
As much as I like google, I would have no hesitation in moving permanently to Firefox which I use only for DK.

It's not your browsing history that needs deleting. If you sign into google and follow the instructions above you will see there is a web history that needs to be deleted and paused to stop it tracking. Your browsing history only relates to your browser, by that I mean when you wipe your web history your browsing history will still be recorded behind the spanner.

**dingledangle** · 27th February, 2012, 08:19 AM

i use firefox,does it affect that?

**happy_highlander** · 27th February, 2012, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by dingledangle

i use firefox,does it affect that?

I shouldn't think so....It seems to be only google powered search engines, but who knows who's pie they have fingers in.

**airwalker2211** · 1st March, 2012, 11:03 AM

i dont have a google account, do i need to create one, just to stop this nonsense?

**dctyper** · 1st March, 2012, 11:59 AM

ill just use bing or something else

dc

**johnboy1974** · 27th March, 2012, 08:24 PM

I never use it i have used yahoo right from the start and see no reason to change it.

**patkins** · 27th March, 2012, 11:08 PM

Since the op posted this I've started to use Firefox mostly and am delighted with the speed etc.

**pickledfrog** · 28th March, 2012, 09:10 PM

doesn't matter which browser you use to access the Google Search Engine or other Google services, Google will store your information even if you don't have an Gmail accounts;
each service that Google supplies to there users has had a separate privacy agreement within the terms and conditions, but now they have merged all the privacy agreements from all there services in to one all encompassing agreement that once you sign up to, allows them to use as they see fit, from statistical analysis to data mining and directed marketing. Google rolled out this change to there terms and conditions worldwide, but this new Agreement breaks the laws on data protection and privacy in the UK and the rest of Europe.

breaking there own rule of 'do no evil'?