Reddit user AlleKeskitason recently asked other community members that had downloaded their Google data what the most unsettling thing they found were and the results were horrifying.
Read on if you dare…
“The most unsettling came from Facebook, of which I uninstalled and deleted my account right after that. I’ll keep it short, friend’s father abandoned him and his mother when he was about 7 and the father never reached out. Two years ago he had a tough day and we talked about his “dad” and how life would be different if he did not bail on them. At the same night I was scrolling through facebook and some f*****g old guy that looked very similar to my friend showed up as suggested friends, immediately I took a screenshot and showed it to him. It was indeed his father that he never talked to for about 18 years. Mind you, my friend never created a facebook account nor used other platforms, so we talked strictly through Steam. How in the h*ll did they suggested that to me? I did not even know/had anybody with common friends and it literally popped the same night after a heart to heart.”
“It wasn’t google data that shocked me, I am kind of expecting it to know everything about me. This came from instagram. My period was very late, so naturally, I told my husband in our very private and quiet home setting, and bought a Clearblue pregnancy test. We don’t own tv, Amazon Alexa, google voice or similar. I just have reddit and Instagram on my smartphone. My period was just late, but the very next day I got bombarded by ads on Instagram about Clearblue and other pregnancy sticks and some other baby [crap]. There is no way that it was a coincidence since it was the second time getting a very, very specific ad. So the app is listening, and showing me ads accordingly.”
“…a bunch of recordings of my computer’s fan spinning.”
To learn more about Google as well as online privacy, AlleKeskitason revealed to Bored Panda the why behind some of the occurrences were a little freaky to say the least.
“First of all we have to understand that when you use services like Gmail, it’s far away from being private. The price of free [services] is being the product and Gmail scans through your emails, which is why Google is able to show your online purchases and notifying you of your flights, reservations and things like that. Likewise, by default, your Android phone tracks your location.”
“I found a pretty detailed path of myself walking in rather unsavory places many years ago. While you think you have nothing to hide, the information can be used to determine a detailed profile of you. What you like, what time you go to work and back, where you live and much more. Furthermore, “nothing to hide” is just a lie people tell themselves, everybody has something they don’t want to reveal. All this is used to make a profile of you and used for marketing, which is why Google is so effective in it and why your phone was as cheap as it was.”
You have been warned folks, proceed with caution.