If you are in the EU, you can now decide how much data you share with Google
If you’re in the EU, you can gain more control over your digital privacy, even if you use notoriously data-hungry platforms.
Google now offers users the opportunity to decide how much information they do or do not want to share with the provider, because they can choose to ‘unlink’ certain services from each other. The move comes as the tech giant prepares to comply with the new data sharing rules introduced by the Digital Market Act (DMA).
The new legislation, which was passed in November 2022, is expected to officially take effect on March 6, 2024. That’s when the choices you select for your Google Account will also take effect.
More control over your privacy online
“You are in control,” the provider wrote in his message official announcement. “As a result of the DMA, Google offers you in the EU the choice to keep certain Google services linked.”
These services include Google Search, YouTube, Advertising Services, Google Play, Chrome, Google Shopping and Google Maps.
You can decide exactly how much data you want to share with the big tech company. As Google explains, “You can choose to keep all of these services linked, choose to have none of these services linked, or choose which of these individual services you want to keep linked.”
The provider ensures that accepting the connection of various Google services does not translate into sharing your data with third-party services. However, the decision to unlink them will nevertheless be beneficial in terms of privacy, as these services cannot share your personal data with each other. This will ultimately make online tracking a bit more difficult, as your Google activities will not be connected.
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Britain is currently voting on a bill similar to the EU DMA. So-called, Digital Markets, Consumers and Competition Bill (DMCC) is currently going through the UK House of Lords for its second reading.
However, it’s worth noting that users willing to go the privacy route will have to sacrifice some convenience. So forget video recommendations on YouTube or location advice on Maps based on previous browsing activities.
Additionally, offering users the ability to minimize data sharing even further isn’t the only change Google and other popular platforms will have to make before March 6.
Under the DMA, larger tech companies have a duty to ensure fair competition and protect people’s digital rights. These so-called gatekeepers include Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Apple, Meta, Amazon, ByteDance (the company behind TikTok) and Microsoft.
For example, Google will not be able to rate its services on Search favorably against those of external competitors. Big Tech giants will also be prevented from enticing users to use their services on the devices they have produced, as well as from extracting user consent through manipulative design practices.
While some companies, including Apple, Meta and ByteDance, have tried to do so fight back these requirements appear to have alerted others, like Google, to March 6 – the official date when the new DMA rules will finally go into effect.
But it’s certainly a win for all privacy-conscious people and for the smaller providers who aim to compete with these tech giants.
In response to this point, Jurgita Miseviciute, Head of Public Policy & Government Affairs at VPN service and secure email provider Proton, told me: “Any pro-competitive legislation is a win in the long run – for small businesses, for jobs, for the economy and for consumers. The only ones who lose are the big monopolies unless they improve their own services and win on merit instead of market manipulation.”