Over the years, I have become increasingly concerned with the privacy issue of what Google actually does with all of the information it surely has collected on and about me (though I cannot think of anything I wouldn’t want my mother to see–a very high standard in my case). Of course, my level of concern skyrocketed with the Edward Snowden revelation of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) use of private, personal data for the purpose of “spying” (for lack of a better term) on American citizens, and the Julian Assange fiasco, called WikiLeaks.

Google–What does the information giant do with your on-line transactions?

Privacy is an important right to throw away in order to see pictures of funny cats.

According to the article linked below, there may be a faint light at the end of the Informationin Age tunnel. Of course, the article does not profess to, nor does it offer a panacea for addressing all of the many privacy issues associated with the collection and use of metadata.

PacMan image

Still, I was excited to read that there was at least some measure of relief from a huge sector of the information-gathering superpower, Google. The article lists a number of steps which will allow an Internet consumer who uses one of the many Google social media “tools” to remove his/her private information from the all-consuming Google machine.

Information “Spying”

http://www.guidingtech.com/36493/delete-personal-data-google/

Legalese–Most users of social media do not read the terms and conditions paragraph on a social media site, but simply click the “I accept” box, without seeing the privacy rights they are relinquishing.

If you have any personal accounts of how your data has been improperly appropriated and used against you (or used to your detriment) during your use of social media, or if you know of other means from removing your metadata from other information-hoarding entities, please post them in the comment section.