Victoria’s Chris Wylie recently blew the whistle on some shady work done through Facebook during the U.S. election (and others), and it’s since opened an extremely large and interesting can of worms.
Did you know that Google keeps an archive of everywhere you’ve ever been? Neither did I. That was until I dug into THIS TWITTER THREAD by tech consultant and web developer Dylan Curran.
His lengthy thread lays out how Google is tracking you, and it gets into some facts about some of the ways that Facebook, Youtube and even Windows are keeping tabs on you. It also offers some ways that you might protect yourself.
Want to freak yourself out? I'm gonna show just how much of your information the likes of Facebook and Google store about you without you even realising it
— Dylan Curran (@iamdylancurran) March 24, 2018
Visit google.com/maps/timeline right now and check out a map showing , in great detail, everywhere you’ve ever brought your phone. It’s crazy.
The map at the top of this article is everywhere I’ve travelled in Southern B.C. over the last few years, mostly while filming for our TV show, BC Was Awesome. I don’t mind sharing the information and in fact I think it’s interesting to have it as a way to look back on all the places I’ve been. However if you’re a private person it might be a bit off-putting to know that this exists on the internet, and that it might be used as one piece in a puzzle to try and sell you more crap, or try to influence you in ways beyond your buying habits.
One way to prevent this is to turn off Location on your phone.
Bob Kronbauer is editor-in-chief of Vancouver Is Awesome.
