“Everyone knows that what drives the Google machineis data: your data”
Do you use Google products and services? Given that there are just shy of 2 billion Google accounts, chances are that you do. Everyone knows that what drives the Google machine is data: your data. I’ve written a lot over the years about ways to strengthen your Google security posture and how to lock down your privacy as far as you can while reaping the benefits of big G services.
I’m not here to repeat myself, you’ll be relieved to know. Nope, I’m here to let you know how to find out what Google knows about you. More precisely, to download data Google holds from your use of services such as Gmail, Calendar, Maps, Pay and so on. Google Takeout is the data-visibility tool in question, developed by in-house engineers collectively named, and I kid you not, the Google Data Liberation Front. It has a multitude of use cases, including making an archive of your contacts and images, for example, but also discovering just what data Google holds under your account umbrella.
Sign into your Google account and head to to get started. Here you’ll see a list of Google products, from which you can select the data you wish to
