Google records everything you say, here's how you can delete it
The easiest way to deter these recordings is to turn off the virtual assistant
Google discreetly records most of the conversations that users have had around its products for years. PHOTO: REUTERS
Your phone is most likely listening to every word you are saying, and you can hear it for yourself.
Google discreetly records most of the conversations that users have had around its products for years.
The feature exists on most smartphones and is used to let people search using vocal commands. Storing such snippets presumably allows Google to enhance its language recognition tools as well as improve the results it delivers.
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However it may not be as ominous as it sounds since it is easy to locate and hear all the recordings since the feature was introduced last year in June.
Aside from the audio portal, the company has also introduced another specifically to track all the searches conducted by an individual. Both these records can be deleted upon choice, although doing so launches a warning that this will impair the tailored results for which the search engine is renown.
How to find out what Google knows about you
One of the benefits to this involuntary recording of your intimate lives is to see it as a journal to retrace your steps over the years. Users of Android smartphones have more of an insight into this surveillance but there may well also be recordings on the portal through whatever devices have been used to interact with Google.
The easiest way to deter these recordings is to turn off the virtual assistant and to avoid using voice searches in the future but to do that cuts off one of the most useful features provided by Google and does not curb our apprehension about online data privacy.
Google discreetly records most of the conversations that users have had around its products for years.
The feature exists on most smartphones and is used to let people search using vocal commands. Storing such snippets presumably allows Google to enhance its language recognition tools as well as improve the results it delivers.
Facebook is using your phone to listen to everything you say, professor claims
However it may not be as ominous as it sounds since it is easy to locate and hear all the recordings since the feature was introduced last year in June.
Aside from the audio portal, the company has also introduced another specifically to track all the searches conducted by an individual. Both these records can be deleted upon choice, although doing so launches a warning that this will impair the tailored results for which the search engine is renown.
How to find out what Google knows about you
One of the benefits to this involuntary recording of your intimate lives is to see it as a journal to retrace your steps over the years. Users of Android smartphones have more of an insight into this surveillance but there may well also be recordings on the portal through whatever devices have been used to interact with Google.
The easiest way to deter these recordings is to turn off the virtual assistant and to avoid using voice searches in the future but to do that cuts off one of the most useful features provided by Google and does not curb our apprehension about online data privacy.