As you may know, the Digital You encompasses everything you do on and sometimes, offline. With this in mind, we have released a variety of blog posts meant to help you manage the way the world views the Digital You. This includes tutorials on how to see what companies like Google and Facebook are collecting about you.
In today’s digital landscape, much of the world has gravitated from shopping in point of sale environments and are now opening their wallets to the world wide web. This transition has brought new ways for companies to track and use your data at their leisure.
Your Google Purchase History
In Google’s case, they collect (almost) all your previous purchases or at-least the ones that send digital receipts to your Gmail account. This means, that anytime you make a purchase and elect to receive a receipt in your Gmail, Google has recorded it here, in your not so personal “Purchases” page.
In this page, you can view most of your past purchases in alarming detail. Google organizes all purchases by items, date and what retailer you purchased from.
You can click here to view your own “Purchase” page.
How To Delete Your Purchase History From Google
If you have followed our other tutorials you may be aware that sometimes dealing with tech giants like Google or Facebook can be confusing. This instance is no different. In fact, while it involves fewer steps it may require more effort from your end.
The only way to remove an item from your “Purchase” page is to delete the receipt email itself. If you try and click “remove” on any of the items inside of the “Purchase” page, a message will remind you that you can only remove the item inside of your Gmail account.
If you are looking to turn off the tracking of your purchases, then you will, unfortunately, need to wait. As it stands, there is no way to disable Google from tracking your purchase history. The only alternative solution is to prevent your receipts from being sent to your Gmail.
What this Information Is Used For
According to Google, they do not use any of the information from your “Purchase” page. In their privacy page, they claim that your emails are in no way sold or used to target you with ads.
“Google does not sell your personal information, which includes your Gmail and Google Account information. We also do not share your personal information with advertisers, unless you have asked us to.”
What This Means For The Digital You
We may not yet know why Google is tracking your purchase history and storing them on a page that they hardly advertise exists. What we do know, is this page is another component of the Digital You that you should be aware of.
At ScoresMatter we will keep you up-to-date in all ways that companies, your social group and criminals can view or influence the Digital You.
Make sure you are keeping up with our blogs and using our suite of tools to to Tap Into The Digital You.