Protecting Your Data When You Search

From medical conditions you’ve been worried about to where you’ve been on vacation, the development of the internet (especially Google) has made it incredibly easy to find the answers to all your questions with just some typing and a couple clicks. But searching the internet does come with a privacy trade-off, and there are a lot of conversations about “protecting your data” when it comes to Google. As a tech expert, it’s my responsibility to shed light on the issue and share some tips for you to think about and protect your data.

Before we dive in, what’s the issue here?

The idea of data use and data privacy has been a hot topic for several years, as almost every platform that you get "for free" is actually using your data and selling it to make money. So basically, Google monitors your search results and then sells your "views and clicks" to their advertisers that create Google ads using that data. 

On the good side, this pays for a service that is helpful—searching the internet—and keeps it free for the user (you). They've also developed algorithms to try to show you the best results tailored just for you. 

On the controversial side, the data is currently being used for marketing (ironic for me to say that, right?). But what happens to all this gathered data in the future? People have been persecuted for age, culture, religious beliefs, gender, intelligence, and more  throughout history, and yet, there is a crazy amount of data like this on each person who uses Google. There is also the criticism that Google is showing you search results that are good for advertisers but maybe not exactly what you need. 

So, what are some of the things that you can do if you don't want to share too much data when you search?

Try another search platform like DuckDuckGo: Instead of automatically searching on Google, you can try services like DuckDuckGo, which was set up to address privacy concerns. They don’t record or log your searches, and everytime you turn up at DuckDuckGo, you’re seen as a new user. Reviews say it has good search results but it does get some of its revenue from Amazon and EBay, so there might be more results from those companies than usual. However, they are careful about how they use your data and have set up their company around data privacy. 

Is there something we can do to keep our data safe while keeping it easy and just using Google?

Try to browse Incognito: One of the things you can do is open an incognito window (or if you are using Microsoft, it's called InPrivate). Although this won't stop the search engines seeing your IP address (or where you are searching from), it does block some other information from being gathered. So, you can try to browse using Incognito.

We're talking a lot about data—are there cybersecurity issues that we should be thinking about?

Yes! There are always cybersecurity issues to be thinking about. That's a whole big topic, but one of the cool tools that we have found that can show you if your data has been breached or stolen is Firefox monitor. When you type in your email address, it will tell you if your data has been breached and shared with the internet underworld. It will also provide suggestions on how to remedy the issue (the biggest being to change your password).

With many of us spending a lot of time online these days, it’s important to make sure that no one is taking a peek at details that are supposed to stay private. There are always ways to keep your data and personal information safe and although it takes a little proactive maintenance, trust me, the peace of mind knowing that your information is secure is well worth the effort. 

If you want to search for me to chat more about this topic, find me here! (Don’t worry, I’m sure this link is totally safe. :))