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Google Takeout: Export a copy of your data in Google services

takeout.google.com

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Re: Google Takeout: Export a copy of your data in Google services

#3
post #2

Once the export is done and I see something I don't want to exist anymore, where do I request that data be permanently removed (GDPR style)? Asking as I honestly don't know.

I think Google Takeout is not meant to give an exhaustive overview of what Google knows about you.

It is meant as a service for backup, and migration to other services.

Re: Google Takeout: Export a copy of your data in Google services

#4
post #2

Once the export is done and I see something I don't want to exist anymore, where do I request that data be permanently removed (GDPR style)? Asking as I honestly don't know.

You'd have to go to the specific Google service that stores the item you want to delete. You can delete emails in Gmail, photos in Google Photos, etc.

Re: Google Takeout: Export a copy of your data in Google services

#5
post #3
post #2

Once the export is done and I see something I don't want to exist anymore, where do I request that data be permanently removed (GDPR style)? Asking as I honestly don't know.

I think Google Takeout is not meant to give an exhaustive overview of what Google knows about you. It is meant as a service for backup, and migration to other services.

Exactly. Unfortunately GDPR failed to realize that most data companies hold about us is inferred. Data takeouts usually provide you with all data you willingly provided (uploads, reviews, likes, playlists, etc). But most interesting information is missing. How often did I watch each video? When did I open each e-mail? There's so much data that companies collect about your behaviour that is never given back to us.

Re: Google Takeout: Export a copy of your data in Google services

#6
post #2

Once the export is done and I see something I don't want to exist anymore, where do I request that data be permanently removed (GDPR style)? Asking as I honestly don't know.

You'd have to go to the specific Google service that stores the item you want to delete. You can delete emails in Gmail, photos in Google Photos, etc.

This is the wrong answer.

Right answer: You can go to [1] and [2] and [3] and ask them to delete your information. It's important to retain a copy in writing that they have removed your information. If a copy is ever found online (in a data breach or otherwise) you would be able to enact legal rights as a result of their GDPR breach. I would encourage people who upload data to leave "fingerprints" in their accounts, such as certain photos, emails, and other data that you have ONLY created on this service (for example, email your own gmail account a unique email, if it's ever leaked, you know where it came from).

It's the same way Spotify's GDPR tool does NOT give you all the information they store, yet if you ask via their DPO (usually privacy@) you get a lot more data, rather sneaky way of hiding their true data collection.

ALWAYS use email or a physical letter, ALWAYS get a reply by the organization when enacting your GDPR rights, your lawyer/legal authority will be very thankful ;)

AND NEVER EVER USE AUTOMATED TOOLS! The chances are, there is data that isn't included within them. For example, go ahead right this second and submit a SAR for "technical log information" to Google, this data is NOT included in their official tools and you will be amazed how much they're storing!!

[1]: https://support.google.com/policies/answer/9581826?hl=en

[2]: https://support.google.com/policies/contact/sar

[3]: https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?p=pr...

Re: Google Takeout: Export a copy of your data in Google services

#7
post #5
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Google Takeout is not meant to give an exhaustive overview of what Google knows about you. It is meant as a service for backup, and migration to other services.

Exactly. Unfortunately GDPR failed to realize that most data companies hold about us is inferred. Data takeouts usually provide you with all data you willingly provided (uploads, reviews, likes, playlists, etc). But most interesting information is missing. How often did I watch each video? When did I open each e-mail? There's so much data that companies collect about your behaviour that is never given back to us.

GDPR does cover inferred data. Source doesn't matter. Only whether this is data about a specific identifiable person and whether it's covered by the list of protected types of data.

Re: Google Takeout: Export a copy of your data in Google services

#8
post #5
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Google Takeout is not meant to give an exhaustive overview of what Google knows about you. It is meant as a service for backup, and migration to other services.

Exactly. Unfortunately GDPR failed to realize that most data companies hold about us is inferred. Data takeouts usually provide you with all data you willingly provided (uploads, reviews, likes, playlists, etc). But most interesting information is missing. How often did I watch each video? When did I open each e-mail? There's so much data that companies collect about your behaviour that is never given back to us.

It's entirely possible to collect information to identify a unique human without it being considered PII - combine it all together and maybe add a sprinkle here and there (perhaps public domain info, buying "anonymized" info) and boom, you know who it is.

Yet, if you're audited, it's just a series of IDs and numbers, nothing identifying there...Right?

If you ask Spotify for your data dump, you'll notice in a lot of the .JSON files the information is encrypted such that you can't understand it (it's just numbers). It's impossible to say whether it's actually stored like this or if they encrypt it before they provide the archive to you.

Meta data is almost impossible to legislate against, and as far as I can see, is entirely legal to collect and use as you see fit.

How many people in the world are on hackernews, named "lopis", use Firefox 65, have an IP address in $country, use this screen resolution etc etc

Easy enough to identify who you are.

Re: Google Takeout: Export a copy of your data in Google services

#9
post #5
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Google Takeout is not meant to give an exhaustive overview of what Google knows about you. It is meant as a service for backup, and migration to other services.

Exactly. Unfortunately GDPR failed to realize that most data companies hold about us is inferred. Data takeouts usually provide you with all data you willingly provided (uploads, reviews, likes, playlists, etc). But most interesting information is missing. How often did I watch each video? When did I open each e-mail? There's so much data that companies collect about your behaviour that is never given back to us.

My gdpr requests have usually included inferred data. I'm not sure if it was facebook or tinder's that showed a giant list of categories they thought I fitted in, which was btw hilariously wrong (I'm a 30 y/o single male and I was categorised as a single mom, for example).
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