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It is the most comprehensive such study ever conducted: more than 144 million page loads were examined during the analysis. The research covered more than 12 countries, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The study found that at least one tracker was prowling around 77.4 percent of the tested page loads. With the help of cookie or fingerprinting processes, these trackers tag along as users surf the Web, carefully recording their every move. In the most benign cases, this information is used only for statistical and advertising purposes. As a rule, a number of third-party tracking scripts hang out on popular websites, and they hitch a ride with users as they pass through domains. Ten or more trackers that amass personal data were found on 21.3 percent of the sites(unique domains) analyzed in the study.

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The study also identified the most widely used trackers online. Google and Facebook stood out in particular, here. Google ranks in the top ten of the most widely used trackers based on page loads with five services. Facebook has three. Google Analytics was found on nearly half of all loaded pages (46.4 percent). Facebook Connect was on more than a fifth (21.9 percent).

Android phones are tracking your location even if you actively turn off location services, haven't used any apps, and haven't even inserted a carrier SIM card.

DID you know that Google has been recording you without your knowledge?

Take the company’s decision this week to stop personalizing Gmail ads based on its scanning of words in email messages. It may sound like substantial change, but it’s really mostly a smokescreen. First, it’s important to note that it came about after businesses voiced concern that Google would sweep up sensitive information from their correspondences—not because of consumer outcry.

Second, ads will remain, but “in line with how we personalize ads for other Google products.” That’s a cover-up for saying that heavy-duty data gathering will continue on all the Google products you use that are not Gmail. Google Analytics, for example, is one of the ways Google follows virtually everyone everywhere. Google’s apps allow it to learn your phone number and physical location, and your searches help it to create sophisticated data profiles about you. This then helps marketers target you with specific advertisements.

The search giant is massive in size, and there is a good chance you tap into Googleverse in some way:

Global market penetration for Android is 61-81%.
Google has a 78.8% market share for online search.
The company generates $67.4 billion in annual ad revenue.
Google processes two trillion searches annually.
30-50 million websites use Google Analytics to for tracking.
There are 700,000 apps available in the Google Play store.
82% of videos watched online come from YouTube.
In total, Google has at least 79 products and services.

According to Google’s documentation, it uses these services to pull out information on the “things you do”, “things you create”, and the things that make you unique.

Search giant modifies terms of service to specifically state ‘automated systems analyse your content’. By Samuel Gibbs

A court ruling could make it difficult to trust U.S. tech companies with private information.

Before Google’s latest privacy change announcement this past summer, the search engine giant promised its users that it would prioritize their online privacy and keep their personal information safe from browsing data collected by Gmail and other sources. Despite this assurance, on June 28, Google changed its privacy stance and is now requesting account owners choose to share more personal data.

What does Google know about me? How do they find out? And what steps can I take to protect myself and my personal data?

What does Google know about me? How do they find out? And what steps can I take to protect myself and my personal data?

Google recently announced that it would start including individual users' names and photos in some ads. This means that if you rate some product positively, your friends may see ads for that product with your name and photo attached -- without your knowledge or consent. Meanwhile, Facebook is eliminating a feature that allowed people to retain some portions of their anonymity on its website.

These changes come on the heels of Google's move to explore replacing tracking cookies with something that users have even less control over. Microsoft is doing something similar by developing its own tracking technology.