It’s no secret that we end up giving most of our private data everytime we go online. Whether you do a Google search or watch a video on YouTube, your computer sends a lot of data to Google. A recent study stated that Google collects the highest amount of data among all big tech companies, including Twitter, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Concerned how much of your data is Google tracking? A developer named Bert Hubert has created an app to help you understand this.
Dubbed Googerteller, the app will make a beeping noise every time the user’s computer sends data to Google.
How does the app work?
As reported by 9to5Google, Googerteller works using the list of IP addresses — freely provided by Google — that are associated with the many Google services. Any time Googerteller detects that your computer has connected to one of those IP addresses, it will make a beep sound to alert you that the data is being shared with Google.
Hubert has also shown a demo of the app via a post on Twitter. In the video, users can notice that there’s a beep after every keystroke into Chrome’s address bar, as the browser sends requests for autocomplete suggestions while browsing the Dutch government’s careers website.
Does the Googerteller work with all devices?
Unfortunately, Googerteller is currently only designed to work on Linux-based operating systems (Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora and others). Those interested can download the app for free.
Google is infamous for tracking user’s data. The tech giant’s network is spread across different services, like Ads, Analytics and more. StockApps.com recently conducted an analysis which said that out of the five biggest tech companies, Google harvests the most information about its users by keeping track of 39 different types of private information for every user. The study said that Apple is the most privacy-conscious firm and stores the information that is necessary to maintain users’ accounts.
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