(Paris) Google will default to deleting location and web browsing data after 18 months for all its new users, American giant Sundar Pichai's boss announced in a blog post on Wednesday.
Published on 24 June 2020 at 13 h 09
France Media Agency
From Wednesday, all Google users activating for the first time the history of positions will benefit by default from an automatic erasure of these after 18 months, said Pichai.
Similarly, for all new Google users from Wednesday, web browsing history data will also be deleted by default after 18 months.
For Internet users who are already Google users, “we will not change your settings”, but “we will actively remind you of the automatic deletion controls available to you via in-product notifications and emails, so that you can choose the automatic removal setting that works for you, ”says Sundar Pichai.
American internet giants have been confronted for several years with a growing awareness of Internet users about the extent of the data accumulated on them for the purpose of advertising targeting.
Search engines like DuckDuckGo or Qwant in France for example have built their business model on the fact that they do not keep user requests, without however worrying Google which remains archidominant in this market.
In his post, Sundar Pichai mentions other details made by Google to coax suspicious Internet users.
On YouTube, the automatic deletion of data (on videos watched for example) will be “set to 36 months by default if you create a new account or activate your history YouTube for the first time, “according to the boss of Google.
Current users “can always choose the automatic deletion option for 3 or 18 months,” he said.
Google will also “facilitate” access to “private browsing” mode on its search engine and its Maps and YouTube products, by allowing it to be triggered by a long press on the profile picture of the user.
