Google to add auto-delete controls for location and web history

To keep users’ personal information more private and secure, Alphabet Inc’s-owned Google is rolling out a new feature ‘auto-delete controls’ that will allow people to automatically delete their Location History, Web and App Activity data.

In a blog post on Thursday, the Mountain View, California-based company said,

“Choose a time limit for how long you want your activity data to be saved — 3 or 18 months — and any data older than that will be automatically deleted from your account on an ongoing basis. These controls are coming first to Location History and Web & App Activity and will roll out in the coming weeks. You should always be able to manage your data in a way that works best for you - and we’re committed to giving you the best controls to make that happen.”

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According to the tech giant, when users turn on settings like Location History or Web & App Activity, the data can make Google products more useful for them - like recommending a restaurant or helping them pick up where they left off on a previous search.

“We work to keep your data private and secure, and we’ve heard your feedback that we need to provide simpler ways for you to manage or delete it,” added Google.

You can already use your Google Account to access simple on/off controls for Location History and Web & App Activity, and if you choose to delete all or part of that data manually.

In a recent two-day developer conference, F8 2019, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg also highlighted that “the future is private.” The biggest announcement was the new redesign to Facebook with privacy as the main theme as the company faced almost a dozen investigations previously over data breaches and privacy issues.

Earlier last month, Google had officially closed all its Google+ services due to the low usage by people and a significant data breach that leaked the private information of millions of Google+ users.

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