Thanks to Google's new Dashboard feature, anyone with a Google account (essentially a Gmail address) can see everything the company is tracking about them. It's an amazing, one-stop shopping tool for managing all of Google's services as they pertain to you. It features, among other services, Gmail, Google Search Results Alerts, Calendar, Contacts, Docs, iGoogle, Latitude, Picasa Web albums, YouTube, and of course Web History. Virtually everything you've done with Google and its array of services can be found here, in sometimes excruciating detail.

My Search history currently goes back two years. Every query is features a date- and time-stamp. I know that Google captures this information, but to see it so highly organized and accessible via one Web page is somewhat unnerving. I should relax. Ninety-nice percent of the information is private—Dashboard indicates what's public with a cute little crowd icon next to it. Better yet, I can erase any history information I don't want to keep.

Why, for example, did I search for Teddy bear images on June 19, 2008 at 10:05 AM? That is embarrassing. I think I'll delete it.

On April 24 2009 at 9:50 AM, I searched Google Maps for directions from my home to the Bronx. Where was I going? If not the zoo, why did I go to the Bronx?

In March of this year (the 8th at 4:39 PM), I watched this video. Why? I have no idea. But Google knows I did it, and it won't forget unless I tell it to.

A year earlier, March 14, 2008 at 1:46 pm, I conducted a somewhat obsessive search on the movie trailer for The Incredible Hulk. I often eat lunch that late, so I'm covered. Still, why did I care so much about that movie? This is another point of embarrassment.

I usually think I have a pretty decent memory, but even a causal perusal of my search history proves me wrong. I don't remember trying to find out what happened to Internet TV company ITVN on May 9 2008 or performing multiple searches on May 30, 2008 from 12:57 to 12:58 PM for cupcake makers and cupcake making devices.

Google even captured the number of gadgets I've installed on my iGoogle page. Why is it storing that data? I'm the one who did it, and even I don't care.

The more I look at Google's rich and deep Dashboard, the more I realize what a remarkable forensic device it could be. No, I don't expect anyone inside or outside of Google to view my private data. Still, I could envision a scenario in which a prosecutor subpoenas Google for this information. Anyone's search history could indicate certain predilections. But Google's vast store of people knowledge goes way beyond search. It has so many services and such a huge user base that it's safe to say that Google may know more about you than virtually any other online service provider (to be fair, if Microsoft or Yahoo had a similar service, we might see some of the same detail). Google knows what people searched for, their shopping habits, who they talked to (Google Voice), where they are (Latitude)—and the list goes on and on. Dashboard takes all this disparate information and weaves it into a sort of living diary. If you want to understand a person, this could be the ultimate autobiography.

It's unlikely that Google will be subpoenaed for this information. However, what if you die? Facebook recently set up a way for people to preserve Facebook accounts for the deceased, so people could continue to visit the pages, which are full of personal photos, videos, comments, etc. It's only open to those who were already connected with the deceased person. Could Google do something similar?

Even without looking at Google Dashboard, I know I do more and more on Google's services than probably any other online social network, search, or service provider. I've moved significant amounts of contact data into Google's cloud and Gmail is now my primary personal mail service. I do all this because I assume Google will be around for a very long time—probably even after I'm gone. What will Google do with my years of search data, information about YouTube uploads and subscriptions, lists of products, image and maps searches, and the rest of the data when I'm dead? There's so much rich information, would Google preserve it and offer it to my family? The data is my private information, but who owns it? Google? Me? My loved ones?

I guess I'm not sure if Google has thought this through. By pulling back the curtain and revealing just how much Google really knows about you and me, it may be inviting many more difficult questions, ones that I'm not sure anyone is ready to answer.

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