Out of the five major digital firms – Google, Twitter, Apple, Amazon and Facebook – Google harvests the most data on its users.
According to an analysis by StockApps.com, the company collects 39 data points for each user.
Spokeperson Edith Reads comments: “Most people do not have the time or patience to read privacy policies that can be several pages long for each website they visit. Also, it is quite unlikely that all users have a background in law to properly grasp the privacy policy.
“Besides, users lack time, patience or energy to try to figure out what information websites are storing and how they are using it to their advantage.
“As a result, users end up allowing Google to harvest all the data they need by agreeing to the privacy policy terms.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise how much data Google tracks, since the company’s entire business model relies on data.
Twitter and Facebook both also save more information than they need to. However, with Facebook, most of the data they store is information users enter.
As is the most privacy-conscious firm in the group, Apple only stores the information that is necessary to maintain users’ accounts.
Each of these data firms focuses on a particular category of data and not the quantity of data. Google collects more different types of information for individual users. The firm relies on this data for targeted advertising rather than relying on third-party trackers.
Besides users’ information, Google stores a significant amount of data on several domains. If it is data, there is a strong probability that Google is collecting it. This includes anything from users’ specific location to your browser history. Moreover, it stores user activity on third-party websites or apps and the emails on users’ Gmail accounts.