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What does Google know? | Pad Patter 1.24

KimJ said:
I didn't know you could actually see these settings. I'm one of those weirdos who actually prefer that the ads I'm seeing are targeted to me. I get annoyed when I see ads that have nothing to do with anything I would ever be interested in. I really wish I could figure out a way for my desktop to know my correct zipcode when I'm browsing. I get really tired of having to correct it when I want to see if my closest Target or Lowe's has something and it thinks I'm 30 miles from where I am. :p

The profile Google had for me was kind of all over the place. I think it probably had everything I've ever looked at in any way, shape, or form. LOL Mine also said not a parent, but then had parenting and children's clothing as categories of interest? I went in and turned off 40 of the most obvious categories. It will be interesting to see how much difference it makes.
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Yeah, I'm a weirdo, too I guess. I figure the ads are going to be there for the most part anyway, so might as well be something I might want to see. And mine gets my zipcode wrong most of the time as well!
I turned off a bunch, too. I thought about clearing them all off and starting over to see what happened lol
 
Karen said:
I'm a little scared to go look. :giggle

The only time I get annoyed with the targeted ads is when I'm shopping for Christmas or Birthday stuff and then ads start showing up for what i bought him! Eek!
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Totally had that happen!!
 
QuiltyMom said:
I checked mine, and it was turned off as it should be. I’m the person who goes around to put all settings on private. I’m rather upset that Fitbit was bought out by google because I really don’t want them to have that information. We’ll see.
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I'm like you. As soon as Fitbit sent that email I downloaded my data and deleted my account. Luckily my tracker was old enough that I'd already been planning to replace it this spring, so I just did it a little early. No more Fitbit devices for me. Even with privacy settings on, I'm sure Google knows way more about me than I'm comfortable with. They don't get my health data, too!
 
Mine is pretty accurate with a few exceptions. I just turned it off, which I didn't even know what an option, so thank you for posting this!
 
rach3975 said:
I'm like you. As soon as Fitbit sent that email I downloaded my data and deleted my account. Luckily my tracker was old enough that I'd already been planning to replace it this spring, so I just did it a little early. No more Fitbit devices for me. Even with privacy settings on, I'm sure Google knows way more about me than I'm comfortable with. They don't get my health data, too!
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I never thought about downloading the data. I'm doing that now, then I'll delete my account. I'll also send an email to them telling the reason why I'm stopping use, but I'm sure it won't do any good. I was using it for reasons that I don't need anymore, so I'm fine with it!
 
QuiltyMom said:
I never thought about downloading the data. I'm doing that now, then I'll delete my account. I'll also send an email to them telling the reason why I'm stopping use, but I'm sure it won't do any good. I was using it for reasons that I don't need anymore, so I'm fine with it!
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Once you download the data, just make sure you can access it before deleting. I kept getting error messages when I tried to import the "all in one" data into excel. I ended up having to go month by month using the tool above the "entire account" downloader. I had about 30 months of data, but it went surprisingly quickly.
 
Thankyou for the fun @IntenseMagic
Mine was varied because of all the times I look up woodworking things for my husband.
The one thing they got wrong was... Parental status: Not a Parent
 
Like Katie @sakura-panda said, I think they're just guessing and also I barely notice ads so I don't really care.
Out of about 150 things on my list, I estimate only ⅔ are things I'm really interested in.

What they got right: 45-54 years old, female, computers (duh, I'm using it every day), photographic & digital arts, . . .

Things they got wrong and it seems like they're basing on one or two searches: dogs, several TV categories (I don't watch TV), . . .

I don't even know how they came up with: extreme sports, rap & hip-hop, vehicle shopping, Windows OS (I've been Apple since 2011) . . .

Ones that made me laugh: search engines, . . .

Ok, tired of this. I have two MOC pages to make!
 
Interesting. Mine was all over the place. I think maybe because my kids use my computer sometimes. Apparently it thinks I like biking?!? Every biking or cycling category. I am a runner...not a biker. There were a few categories that were very accurate but I turned off at least half of them.
 
Yup. Looks like anything that anyone has looked up with my computer (which is everyone in my family), so there was a lot of stuff. I didn't bother turning it off because I figure they'll track me every time I use Google anyway.
Thanks for the info, it was fun to see.
 
well that was eye opening, i didn't know they tracked some things live 'green living and environmental issues' but i'm surprised by how many car things i just had to turn off including a Nissan specific one, never owned or looked at Nissan AFAIK and ones like Bollywood movies and Indie/Alternative music... makes me wonder who's been using my computer!
 
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