A day in the life of Google

Google is the world's largest digital advertising company. It also provides the No. 1 web browser, the No. 1 mobile platform and the No. 1 search engine worldwide. Google's video platform, email service and map application have over 1 billion monthly active users each....

Google learns a great deal about a user's personal interests during even a single day of typical internet usage. In an example 'day in the life' scenario, where a real user with a new Google account and an Android phone goes through her daily routine, Google collected data at numerous activity touchpoints, such as user location, routes taken, items purchased and music listened to. Surprisingly, Google collected or inferred over two-thirds of the information through passive means. At the end of the day, Google identified user interests with remarkable accuracy.

Android is a key enabler of data collection for Google, with over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide.... Android helps Google collect personal user information (e.g., name, mobile phone number, birth date, zip code and, in many cases, credit card number), activity on the mobile phone (e.g., apps used, websites visited) and location coordinates. In the background, Android frequently sends Google user location, and device-related information and identifiers.

From 'Google Data Collection', Digital Content Next