The excellent Google Operating System blog—which isn't affiliated with Google—reported today that Google updated its privacy policy.

The changes are pretty subtle; mostly they changed the term "cookies and anonymous identifiers" to say "cookies and similar technologies" (emphasis mine). That means anything from HTML5 local storage to Web beacons, and anything else they decide to use. Any info Google collects and stores is used by the company to enhance not just products, but also its advertising service; plus that info can and will be shared with Google partners. That part isn't new. This paragraph is:

"Information we collect when you are signed in to Google may be associated with your Google Account. When information is associated with your Google Account, we treat it as personal information. For more information about how you can access, manage, or delete information that is associated with your Google Account, visit the Transparency and choice section of this policy."

(You can read the full Google Privacy Policy here, including a look at changes made since May 1, 2015.)

So what's the Transparency and Choice section? It's where Google spells out what it collects—and points out that "it's important to remember that many of our services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled."

But at least you get the options. And part of that comes from having access now to the new-ish Google My Account dashboard.  (Your actual Google Dashboard is a look into your daily usage.)

Controlling Your Google Privacy

Google revamped its My Account page just a few weeks ago. It's meant to be the one-stop place to take control of your privacy and security when it comes to letting this monolithic company know all about you. Rather than having to visit settings for every individual Google service—Gmail, Google Drive, Picasa, Android phones,  and a hundred others—you should be able to change settings here.

Before you do anything, visit privacy.google.com—it spells out exactly what data Google is collecting and what it does with that data, plus its advertising policies, so you'll be a bit more informed about what settings to change.

Once you're clear on the deets, visit My Controls and go through everything step by step, most of which I've spelled out below.  

First stop: back to My Account—that new dashboard for total account control. There are specific sections here for Sign in & Security, Personal info & Privacy, and Account Preferences.  You want to perform two actions right away: a Security Checkup and a Privacy Checkup.

Security Checkup

This is a quick review of the information that can save you hash. First make sure you have recovery info: an email and phone number not necessarily related to Google (this isn't the place to use a Gmail account name), plus a security question so specific to you that no one in the real world could guess the answer. You'll need it someday if you forget a password or have one hacked.

You can from that same screen check your connected devices. Delete any you no longer use—just be aware, Google's going to ask you to change your password if you click the "Something looks wrong" button to delete the device in question. It's a pain, but get used to it—frequently changed passwords are just one of the high costs of true security.

Next you'll check your account permissions—it's a review of the apps, websites, and devices connected via your Google account. It could be something as obscure as a Google Chrome extension that works with Gmail that you don't remember installing. Remove any of them you know you're not using anymore. And if you get rid of something you need, you can always give it permission again later.

Finally, you'll have some optional items. If you've created any "app passwords"—those are passwords for specific services that don't use traditional Gmail logins, like on game consoles—you can revoke them here. You'll get some Gmail settings here, but better to handle those in Gmail itself.

Finally, it's time to check your 2-Step Verification settings. It's also called 2-factor authentication, or 2FA, which you can read all about here. It essentially turns your mobile device of choice into a third piece of the security puzzle—you can't get access with a password alone, you need a code from your phone, which you get via text or using an app called an authenticator.  If you don't have 2-Step Verification on for Google, you're not taking security seriously.

Now skip back to the My Account page to get into the Privacy Checkup

Privacy Checkup

A lot of what you see in this checkup is tied to Google+, because Google tried like hell to turn that "social network" into a hub of all your info, then spread it around to all its other services. Google may be de-emphasizing Google+, but that info is still out there. You can use this page to get access to your profile and limit what gets shared.

There are several check boxes under Photos and Videos you might want to check or uncheck. The first is "Don't feature my publicly shared Google+ photos as background images on Google products & services." (Check it; why should Google benefit from your art?) Second is "Find my face in photos and videos and prompt people I know to tag me." (Your call on if you want that happening. And you may have to turn it off not only on the desktop, but individually in iOS and Android's Google+ apps, as well as in mobile browsers.)

Also go in to "Shared Endorsements" and click the box so your name doesn't show up in ads as a ringing endorsement.

Next you can help people connect to you via Google+ by providing phone numbers; manage how your automatically share things on YouTube and Google Photos; and personalize what's stored, like the history of what you visit, watch, search for, and where you go. This is where you can also turn off things like monitoring of voice activity (stored whenever you say "OK Google" to access voice search in Chrome.)

Ad Settings
Google makes the majority of its billions by showing you ads in search results and on Gmail, YouTube, and Google Maps (plus elsewhere across the Internet). You're not going to turn them off here—for that, you need an ad-blocker program like Ad Block Plus—but you can limit how much you are targeted. Hate sports? Turn it off in the "Interests" section. You can also opt out of "interest-based ads" altogether. Again, that's not going to stop ads—it only means ads that Google considers more relevant to you based on all the data it's collected get mixed in with less relevant commercials. Some people hate being targeted. Some love it. You can decide.

Back to the My Accounts page you go.

Account History

Google is tracking a lot of what you do (and see and where you are and even where you might be going) in this history. Check it to see if you really want this information known. For example, you can check in to see just how many searches you've made, and what you clicked on the most.  This is also another place to check history of your voice searches, location log-ins (mine literally shows me logged in in my home office, living room, backyard, and the bathroom!), YouTube watches/searches, and what devices you've used. Delete the entries you don't want stored

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Remember, almost every browser has a privacy mode—Google Chrome calls it Incognito—where you can surf without cookies or anything else tracking you. Even the mobile browsers on smarpthones.

Or you can always just delete your entire Google account and walk away. But that's a bit drastic, especially since there are literally hundreds of sites and services that use your Google credentials for logging in.

Whatever your feelings about privacy, it behooves you to take a glance through the settings above. You're bound to find something Google's doing that doesn't sit right. Be thankful it gives us as much control over the privacy as it does (or maybe thank the regulators that force Google's hand). It's still not enough for the truly security/privacy obsessed, but helps with a balance of feeling good while getting the most out of the otherwise excellent services the company tends to offer.