Google wants to study your online habits; what it wants to track

Google may be sending you something in the mail, offering you a chance to earn hundreds of dollars in reward points. They want you take part in their Device Usage Study to use your smartphone devices as you “normally would.” You can earn up to $540 a year, not In cash, but in reward points for gift cards.

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So, Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke took a close look at what this is all about.

Well, Google wants to learn more about your online behavior. If you sign up for the study, you agree to share your web and app activity with the company. They say they’ll use that data to make their platforms better.

“It did raise my red flags,” Kalleigh Lane said, who is with All About Cookies, a group focused on online privacy and that tests things, including ad blockers, to ensure they work. “It’s incredibly invasive … but when I dug into the privacy policy, that’s when things started like going crazy.”

According to the privacy policy, Google will collect data on:

• The websites and apps you visit
• How long you spend on them
• What you search for -- including videos, products to buy, and information you enter (such as your name, credit card number, email address, home/work address, passwords, and Social Security number.)

Google says they’ll also track data about your calls, emails, and texts, including the “content of messages as they appear on your screen.”

Google’s Usage Study also encourages people to invite relatives, including children 13 and up.

“That’s crazy … I want to reiterate that they see everything on your screen. You can’t just go to incognito mode and hide from it. It’s everything you’re seeing on your screen, and they are tracking,” Lane said.

The company also says they’ll be able to gather this information even if you use privacy settings.

Bottom line: This program is voluntary. You don’t have to take part if you’re uncomfortable.

But, if you really want to participate, Google says you can:

• Stop at any time
• Delete data they collected
• Pause the tracking while you enter personal information -- like your SSN or password.

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