A New Study Suggests that Google Collects More Consumer Data Than Users Think (Way More)
By Sara Shaw • August 22, 2018
A researcher from Vanderbilt University released a study on Tuesday analyzing Google’s data collection practices. The study looks at how data is gathered from all Google products, including Android mobile devices, Chrome web browsers, YouTube and Photos. In addition to incognito data collection, the study looked at other “passive” means of collection, where “an application is instrumented to gather information while it’s running, possibly without the user’s knowledge,” the report says.
The report was particularly concerned with the amount of passive data collected by Google, including information gotten through ads and third-party web and app activity not directly owned by Google. The report claims two-thirds of data collected by Google would be considered “passive.”The study comes just as lawmakers in Washington consider more stringent privacy regulations.