With the new Google devices launching soon lots of articles have been warning about how much private information Google is getting, but do users actually care? And has anyone actually had a bad experience because Google has private data?

As far as I can tell Google uses private data to make my experience while using their services better. They're also great about protecting my data, making it clear what data they're collecting and giving me control over it. Google probably has more information about me than other companies, but they also seem to provide a lot more benefit from it and so far I've seen exactly zero negatives from them having access to it:

• The only profit they can make from it is targeted advertising, but they allow me to opt out of that, which implies it must not be a huge source of profit (or they value letting users opt out more than they value the additional revenue). It seems like targeted advertising might just be a way to make ads less annoying? If ads are for things I might actually buy, that's better than random ads I have no interest in, right?
• My google account has never been hacked (because they provide good security tools) and my information has never been stolen from their servers because they're great at security. Lots of other sites I use often have been hacked and personal information was stolen by unknown parties.
• Google reminds me to check my personal information and review what's being collected and has easy ways to delete my accounts and export data. Other services don't make it as easy.
• Often a blogger will complain that Google's services are "creepy" because they know where they are or what's on their calendar and offer suggestions. I personally find this useful, and would only think it's creepy if I could see how it could end up in a negative situation.
• Often people will cite things like NSA surveillance as a reason not to use google, but I think if the NSA wants information on me they're going to get it no matter what. My only real option would be to not use any online services.

Have I had an unusual experience with Google services? Do other people have horror stories of personal information being leaked or used against them somehow? I think it's easy to come up with lots of benefits to using google services (things like maps and navigation are so good they're almost indispensable), but what are the negatives to weight against those?

Submitted October 16, 2016 at 07:47PM by PM_ME_UR_Definitions http://ift.tt/2dGjCoH via TikTokTikk