protecting yourself from google

i've been blogging over at the hand mirror, in case you missed it. there's this one with some interesting things to read, then this one about the comedian who dismissed the protest again tui ads, and finally, one tonight about a pretty nasty letter to the editor published in the waikato times.

so in lieu of more writing, i'm going to give you a public service announcement. i don't really understand about the changes to privacy that google is making, mostly because i haven't wanted to spend time reading up about it. there's a brief description here, but more importantly, they tell how to delete your web history from google. i'm going to reproduce that bit because i think it's important:

1. Go to the google homepage and sign into your account.

2. Click the dropdown menu next to your name in the upper-right hand corner of your screen.

3. Click accounts settings

4. Find the "Services section"

5. Under "Services" there is a sub-section that reads "View, enable, disable web history." Click the link next to it that reads: "Go to Web History."

6. Click on "Remove all Web History"

i managed to follow all that and do it, so it's not too difficult. the only thing they miss out is that you have to enter your password again between steps 5 & 6. apparently you can only do this over the next few days, before google makes the actual change to their privacy settings. so if you're interested in protecting your privacy, do it now.