Does Google share my info?

A reader had a question about Google and how they manage your information?

“Does Google also share with other websites? I use Google most of the time.”

For the most part, Google is interested in using your information to target Internet advertising to you. The real business of Google is selling ads on the Internet. In the third quarter of 2019, the raked in over $40 billion in revenue – $34 billion of that in ad revenue. They are the largest and most profitable advertising agency on the Internet.

Google gathers the information about what ads to show you via their free services like the Google search engine, Google Chrome browser, Android phones, the Android operating system on your SmartTV, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, and more. The vast majority of these services are free. As I keep telling you, if you don’t pay for the product, you most likely are the product.

According to Google, here’s a list of some of the information they collect:

• Terms you search for
• Videos you watch
• Views and interactions with content and ads
• Voice and audio information when you use audio features
• Purchase activity
• People with whom you communicate or share content
• Activity on third-party sites and apps that use our services
• Chrome browsing history you’ve synced with your Google Account

If you use our services to make and receive calls or send and receive messages, we may collect telephony log information like your phone number, calling-party number, receiving-party number, forwarding numbers, time and date of calls and messages, duration of calls, routing information, and types of calls.

They also collect location information:

• GPS
• IP address
• Sensor data from your device
• Information about things near your device, such as Wi-Fi access points, cell towers, and Bluetooth-enabled device

Google uses the information to target advertising to you, customize your search results, and provide product suggestions.