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Technology

Why You Might Want to Delete Your Google Browser History Before Next Week

Feb. 24, 2012 12:40am Liz Klimas

As of March 1, Google’s new, “shorter and easier to read” privacy policy will go into effect. At that time, the search giant that also includes products such as YouTube, Gmail and Calendar will begin “[treating] you as a single user across all [of its] products.” An example provided by the company is letting you know you’re late for a meeting based on your location and calendar schedule.

So, what is there to do if you want Google to hold a little less personal information about you? The Daily Mail suggests a good starting step is to delete your browser history. It even offers the steps on how to do so:

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.

How to Delete Google Web History Before Privacy Policy Changes

(Image: Daily Mail)

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.

(Image: Daily Mail)

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.

(Image: Daily Mail)

The Daily Mail notes that while clearing your browsing history won’t prevent Google from storing this info for its own purposes, it will at least become anonymous.

Google announced in January that it would be reducing its more than 60 privacy policies into one cohesive message. With this new policy, if you are logged into Google, the company may be able to collect your information from one service to another, recognizing preferences and making connections across its platforms. If you think not logging into Google will prevent tracking, the Daily Mail points out that the company will just track you by IP address. While Google says that this updated policy doesn’t deviate from its core principals.

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Comments (258)

Duey2000
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:31pm
I don’t care to use Google. I have never had an account with them and I don’t use their search engine. The only things that I use are googlemaps. I have seen videos on youtube but I am usually watching it embedded in a website like here, I don’t have a youtube account either.

Also, don’t install a search engine into your web browser or phone. It’s just smart.

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Brooke Lorren
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:29pm
Mine wasn’t turned on to begin with.

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txn4justice
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:25pm
Rose-Ellen; I hate your guts and hope you die soon.

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- rose-ellen
  Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:55pm
  may the peace of Christ be with you.
  
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mrmikejohnson
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:07pm
Someone nEeds to srart another site like YouTube that isn’t run by an evil company. Does anyone know of a good video posting site?

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joshvox
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:00pm
Thanks for the info so far. I was a rather heavy google user, and always wondered how I could break with them. I have a question–my main use of google is gmail–I’m in the process of switching, but of course this doesn’t happen overnight. I’m thinking of using Lycos mail–could I just forward my gmail mail to my Lycos account until I get completely switched over–or will they still be tracking me even though I’m not actually logging into google?

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- joshvox
  Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:01pm
  Also, what are general opinions of Lycos mail? I’m using DuckDuckGo for my search engine.
  
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LibertyUSA1
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:47pm
I also have an Android by Verizon. Every time and I mean EVERY time I access the Blaze on it, and try to pull up a story…I AM BOOTED OFF and immediately directed to Google. WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU!!!!

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mobynowak
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:41pm
Use Startpage for anonymous searches.

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Rowgue
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:38pm
Or you could just not set up a google account in the first place. Even if you use the service there is no practical purpose for setting up an account with them, especially not one that uses your real email address and other pertinent information.

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Polycarp2012
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:26pm
Well, that didn’t take long.

Google has changed their front page when you log into gmail. A new look. No opt out, have to continue with new look. If you can find it, there is a temp. link to the old look. From there you can find the account settings and opt out of browser history.

Good luck.

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Mike777
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:21pm
I use Starting page they don’t track you and can view web pages as a proxy also. https://startingpage.com/

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skipmontesjr
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:15pm
Are you kidding me….This will not stop them from doing what they want to do which is track your every movement and track your every visit to every site…Marketing is the name of the game….Oh an I am sure they share with the gov’t…Ever notice no lawsuits against Google about this yet…

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lylejk
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:56am
You mean to tell me that you people still use Google? lolololololol

Losers. :)

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Juniemoon
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:41am
aggiebrewer and getright, do you stand with George Soros, Rhamn Emmuel, Cass Sustein? These are Jews, there are wicked Jews and there are righteous ones, the 10 tribes are not exclusive to greatness. There are two tribes left out in the book of revelation. All Jews are not good.

Consider King Solomon, he was wise but he lost his soul by marrying the strange wives (different religions), he abused God’s law (Torah), he left out some jots and titles while writing the whole Torah (Kings were required to write it and take it with them where ever they went). Solomon bought horses and chariots for war, he wasn’t suppose to do that as King, he was to rely on God to fight his battles.
He sold them to Israels enemies, he made 666 talents of gold/yr, he strived to build his own house greater than he built God’s house.
I sometimes wonder if this is the picture of the USA, how many enemies of Israel has this president sold weapons to, how many strange religions have we married, were we not the richest nation in the world at one time. How lustful are we, how much more is satisfying the flesh better then satisfying the soul. We look at the Song of Solomon and think it’s about Solomon’s love life, when it is actually God calling out to his bride, to open the door, to let him come in.

I think we need to stop being Solomons.
The Unfulfilled, Unhappy Life of Solomon
http://www.newfoundationspubl.org/unfulfi.htm

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siguy62
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:35am
I don’t have a google account. I just go to the site and do my searches. Can anyone recomend how I can remove my activity or it I need to?

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Chloesmom
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:25am
Thanks to the Blaze for the heads-up, and thanks to everyone who posted alternatives to Google.

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Legal Immigrant
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:22am
Sign in on the Google Accounts homepage. (If you forgot your password, you can reset it).
Click Close account and delete all services and info associated with it to delete your account. If you don’t see this link near the bottom of the page, your account was likely created through an organization or company. To delete your account, talk to your domain administrator.
Confirm your account deletion. To do so, you’ll need to select these two options: “Yes, I want to delete my account,” and “Yes, I acknowledge that I am still responsible for any charges incurred due to any pending financial transactions.” (You can safely select the latter option if you haven’t used any of Google’s paid products, such as AdWords and Google Checkout, or if you have no pending financial transactions related to these products.)

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South Philly Boy
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:21am
My google history was already off

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Legal Immigrant
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 11:21am
http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/search.py?hl=en&query=how+to+delete+google+account&ctx=en:searchbox

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mcFirst
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:57am
i searched for floor lamps 2 months ago. I still get floor lamps ads all the time. really google.

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- rose-ellen
  Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:40pm
  as long as it’s not the government compiling a dossier on me like a police state-i have no problem with a private company [google] keeping tabs and simplifying my life by knowing my interests-whether for consumer goods or of other web sites that would interest me.What’s the big deal?I trust google.
  
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- Watchingtheweasels
  Posted on February 25, 2012 at 8:40am
  Read, and learn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_%28Terminator%29
  
  You don’t even understand what it is you should be afraid of.
  
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American Mensch
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:38am
For all those complaining about annoying pop-ups on The Blaze; this is how the site makes money. Advertising is their life’s blood. Do you think The Blaze is able to operate with no funds coming in? If you don’t like it, then find some way to block the pop-ups or stop visiting the site. Most sites depend on these, admittedly, annoying little tricks to keep revenue coming in to their business. You must get something out of this site or you wouldn’t be visiting it. Stop the kvetching, and enjoy the little irritations of a web-based business like the Blaze.
I, for one, just learned something important from the Blaze, and actually used their advice in erasing my browser history on my Google account. Google would never have shared this valuable information with me.

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- RabiaDiluvio
  Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:41am
  It isn’t just the popups–it is the tracking. The Blaze does more tracking than Huffpo, including sites like googleanalytics. So…why is The Blaze suddenly concerned for privacy??
  
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BigPaul
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:33am
And People do not believe in SkyNet. Wake up

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pizzacorner
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:22am
Startpage offers you Web search results from Google in complete privacy!

When you search with Startpage, we remove all identifying information from your query and submit it anonymously to Google ourselves. We get the results and return them to you in total privacy.

Your IP address is never recorded, your visit is not logged, and no tracking cookies are placed on your browser. When it comes to protecting your privacy, Startpage runs the tightest ship on the Internet. Our outstanding privacy policy and thoughtful engineering give you great search results in total anonymity. Here are some of our key features:

Free proxy surfing available.
Praised by privacy experts worldwide.
Twelve-year company track record.
Third-party certified.

No IP address recorded.
No record is made of your searches.
No identifying or tracking cookies used.
Powerful SSL encryption available.

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drlax15m
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:13am
already did this days ago!

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cranberry
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:02am
Google is getting too big for its britches. I am actually kind of scared of them. So, i will not use them. Just like facebook. No likeee

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RabiaDiluvio
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:55am
WAITwaitwait…
I have more tracking hits through The Blaze than any other website I visit!
Not inclucing tracking from social networks…
Omniture
Quantcast
Google Analytics
Netratings Site Census
Media6degrees
Revenue Science
New Relic
ChartBeat
Nielsen
Audience Science

Is the Blaze really that concerned about our privacy?

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