Is Google finally serious about users' privacy? We doubt
On the eve of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Google announced new features for its three key products - YouTube, Assistant, and Maps. The tools, set to be rolled out in the coming weeks, will give you greater privacy by helping you mask your data more effectively on the three services. Is this another of Google's marketing gimmick? Well, that's a question for future.
Incognito mode for Google Maps
The first upgrade comes in the form of incognito mode for Google Maps - a feature that will mask the places you'll search for and visit (if the location history setting is off). It will completely hide your activity inside Maps, keeping the service from associating that data with your Google account or using it for showing personalized recommendations, like traffic, nearby places.
Auto-deletion of YouTube history
Next, Google is bringing the long-awaited auto-deletion option for YouTube history. The capability is similar to the one already available with Google's location history and web data and will let you clear out your YouTube history data after a pre-defined period of time. It offers three time limits for auto-deletion - after 3 months, 18 months or until you delete manually.
Ask Google Assistant to delete voice commands for past week
Then, there's the Google Assistant update which provides an easier option to delete voice commands recorded over the past week. Basically, you can now ask Assistant to delete the last thing you said or the data recorded over last week. It will erase the data immediately, but do note that you'd have to dig into Google's settings for removing recordings older than one week.
Other minor changes to boost your privacy
Among other things, Google will also configure Assistant to answer queries over how the company keeps confidential user data safe and secure. It is also building the recently-launched password checker feature into the password manager used in Chrome and Android. This will help you figure out if a certain password has been compromised in a breach while signing in.
