Google Dashboard to address privacy concerns

Worried about how much information Google has retained about you and your internet usage pattern? Google is addressing precisely this concern with the launch of a new tool that will reveal the data that is stored in their Google accounts.

The web wizard has introduced Google Dashboard, so that users can see exactly what data the search giant holds about them, access the relevant privacy policies for different sites and, where appropriate, the facililty to change the settings. For example, Gmail users can set it up so that no history of chats or web searches is saved, if they wish.

Google has vast amounts of data on many web users, particularly those in the habit of signing in to their Gmail accounts and using the Google search engine.

The function to change settings is not new, but having it all stored in one location is. In a blog post announcing the development, Google announced, "Over the past 11 years, Google has focused on building innovative products for our users. Today, with hundreds of millions of people using those products around the world, we are very aware of the trust that you have placed in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy and data."

The dashboard has controls for Google Accounts as well as its social networking site Orkut, YouTube, photo manager Picasa and Google Talk.