Google finally has added a way to protect the data stored on your My Activity page. The new verification tool became available on Tuesday, and The Verge reports that it will block anyone who doesn’t have your password from accessing your activity data. Your web and activity page is basically a list of all the things you’ve done across various Google services. This page includes info like location data, search data, and results for video searches on YouTube. It also can collect the types of searches you make for images and other media content in Google. Of course, there are some customization options available, which will let you control how much data is stored on the My Activity page, but that won’t stop others from accessing the information if they gain access to your computer. Without verification, anyone with access to your computer can simply head to the activity page and browse your online usage history to find out everything they can about you. It is a huge privacy concern and privacy experts like Chris Hauk with Pixel Privacy warn that users should always be aware of how their searches are being tracked whenever browsing the web. “My Activity lists the web pages you’ve visited in Chrome, videos you’ve watched on YouTube, locations you’ve checked in Maps, voice commands you’ve issued to Google Assistant, and much more. This makes any extra protection a welcome sight,” Hauk told Lifewire in an email. “By enabling the extra layer of security, this prevents anyone from picking up a device that is already logged into your Google account, such as your Android phone, and browsing through your usage history.” You can enable verification at any point when you access the Manage My Activity option on the activity page while signed in to your Google account.
