Google Launches a New Feature That Lets You See the Data It’s Collecting About You

If you’ve ever doubted how much Google really knows about your online presence, you might want to check out their newest feature.

Google announced the launch of its My Activity feature today. In short, it’s a searchable history of almost all of your online activity associated with your Google account, according to CNET.

This includes things you’ve searched for, the websites you’ve visited, the Netflix shows you’ve been watching, the YouTube videos you’ve viewed, and news articles you’ve read.

The results on My Activity are extremely detailed. They show exact search terms, as well as when and how many times you’ve visited certain websites. These results can be sifted through with a variety of filter options, according to Lifehacker.

And for those a little freaked out about the amount of information Google has on them, My Activity also lets you edit and delete items from your history — as well as offering a feature that suspends certain tracking activities.

Although there have been ways to see your Google history in the past, My Activity is probably the most comprehensive timeline yet. In fact, it’s a bit creepy how in-depth the information goes. Thankfully, Google says the information is secure, and only viewable by you.

Google users will be asked to “opt in” to My Activity in the coming weeks, if you haven’t already, according to AndroidPolice.

Google’s massive data collection effort has been the source of controversy. On the one hand, Google says that its data collection helps them improve user experience with their products.

On the other hand, there are very real privacy concerns when it comes to a data collection effort as gigantic as the Google has been conducting.

In any case, the new My Activity feature is a nifty way to see — and hopefully help control — your digital footprint.