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Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

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Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#11

Post by lalos »

duxup wrote: post #8

So does this actually delete it ... for Google? Deleting it from say my browser, maps, or other history is one thing. Does Google no longer have any of it? Also the top and bottom bars that leave me with like 1/3 usable space on google's blog is really frustrating to read on: https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/automatically...

Is that even possible? If you use X data to generate a model and then delete the data and keep the model, you could in theory use the model to re-identify that user that deleted the data with a high degree of confidence.

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#12

Post by duxup »

lalos wrote: post #11
duxup wrote: post #8

So does this actually delete it ... for Google? Deleting it from say my browser, maps, or other history is one thing. Does Google no longer have any of it? Also the top and bottom bars that leave me with like 1/3 usable space on google's blog is really frustrating to read on: https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/automatically...

Is that even possible? If you use X data to generate a model and then delete the data and keep the model, you could in theory use the model to re-identify that user that deleted the data with a high degree of confidence.

I think that's a good question.

They could delete it... and then repopulate that data the next minute pretty easily.

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#13

Post by owaislone »

I'll be happy when they let me use their products like Google assistant without collecting all this info in the first place. Even a degraded experience would be fine. Why does assistant need to know where I was last week or what I searched for to answer simplistic questions?

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#14

Post by aiiane »

duxup wrote: post #8

So does this actually delete it ... for Google? Deleting it from say my browser, maps, or other history is one thing. Does Google no longer have any of it? Also the top and bottom bars that leave me with like 1/3 usable space on google's blog is really frustrating to read on: https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/automatically...

Yes, if you choose to delete it, it will be deleted. (It takes nontrivial amounts of time to delete it across distributed service architecture but the deletions do get propagated.)

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#15

Post by owaislone »

duxup wrote: post #12
lalos wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that even possible? If you use X data to generate a model and then delete the data and keep the model, you could in theory use the model to re-identify that user that deleted the data with a high degree of confidence.

I think that's a good question. They could delete it... and then repopulate that data the next minute pretty easily.

They cannot repopulate the data from the model but the models can be analyzed to identify people.

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#16

Post by aiiane »

lalos wrote: post #11
duxup wrote: post #8

So does this actually delete it ... for Google? Deleting it from say my browser, maps, or other history is one thing. Does Google no longer have any of it? Also the top and bottom bars that leave me with like 1/3 usable space on google's blog is really frustrating to read on: https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/automatically...

Is that even possible? If you use X data to generate a model and then delete the data and keep the model, you could in theory use the model to re-identify that user that deleted the data with a high degree of confidence.

In general models trained on individual users' data get rebuilt when the underlying data changes so as to properly reflect the current state of the source data.

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#17

Post by brandonhorst »

owaislone wrote: post #13

I'll be happy when they let me use their products like Google assistant without collecting all this info in the first place. Even a degraded experience would be fine. Why does assistant need to know where I was last week or what I searched for to answer simplistic questions?

You're in luck! Those requirements were removed months ago. You can use Assistant with those settings disabled no problem.

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#19

Post by duxup »

owaislone wrote: post #15
duxup wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a good question. They could delete it... and then repopulate that data the next minute pretty easily.

They cannot repopulate the data from the model but the models can be analyzed to identify people.

Good point.

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#20

Post by duxup »

aiiane wrote: post #14
duxup wrote: post #8

So does this actually delete it ... for Google? Deleting it from say my browser, maps, or other history is one thing. Does Google no longer have any of it? Also the top and bottom bars that leave me with like 1/3 usable space on google's blog is really frustrating to read on: https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/automatically...

Yes, if you choose to delete it, it will be deleted. (It takes nontrivial amounts of time to delete it across distributed service architecture but the deletions do get propagated.)

I guess for the writer of the blog it isn't something to point out, but it would have been nice if they explicitly said that.

Maybe it is just just the writer's POV, but I do worry they didn't explicitly say it is deleted as far as Google's storing of such data...

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