Google Photos Privacy: Your Images Are not Safe Delete it Right Now

Every single Google Product is prone to your online privacy. The debate regarding online privacy is rising. Especially after what Facebook and Google did for the sake of collecting users’ data.

And this is not the first time that Google did something unethical. There are several incidents in the past where Google caught red-handed in destroying users’ online privacy.

Moreover, the most enticing thing about Google Products, they are free and super handy to use. Similar to other products Google Photos is also free with unlimited to store and backup your images.

But what if I tell you all of your Google Photos are public. Even you share it with a specific list of family members and friends.

Google Photos Privacy

Google Photos does not require any permission to access photos.  There is no two-way to answer that you trust Google or not.

If you are concern about your online privacy like me, you should not use Google Photos at all (see my Alternatives to Google guide).

However, I do not want to be biased here, so before discussing why Google Photos is prone to your privacy, let me explain how it works

What is Google Photos?

Just like other Google products, Google Photos is totally free that is most enticing features for users’.

To add, this Google Photos tools offers you feature to upload your images and video content directly on cloud automatically with unlimited space. However, there are some terms and conditions.

The first condition is you cannot upload images more substantial than 16 MP. And if you try to do so, it will automatically down-scaled them.

The second condition is you can only upload a video with 1080p or lower than that. But if you want to store in original quality and also want to upload 4k video, then you can go for Google Photos premium version.

For extra space, Google Photos offers two different packages:

  • To get additional space up to 100GB in $2
  • For 1TB per month, the price is $10

You can use Google Photos on your desktop. Though, its app is also available on both Android and iOS. The significant advantage of using Google Photos that it offers a single place where you can store pictures.

Furthermore, you need only one account to access your photos from your any device. There are several alternatives to Google Photos.

But it is scarce to find any one of them as a close alternative to Google photos. There is no denying what Google Photos offer is impressive.

Especially when you can find photos by typing location, date, even or keywords in the search bar, like for example if you enter word “car” in the search bar, you will see all of your pictures with a car in them.

This shows how Google products are one step ahead in providing ease of use and embedded with advanced features.

However, in the end, I believe nothing is more prominent than protecting your online privacy.

To rule the online world, Google is always looking for ways to collect as much data of users as possible and target them with ads.

You do not believe me? Well, I would love to explain how Google is injurious to your privacy.

For Google, You are the Product

Have you ever imagine that why Google offers you amazing products free? The Google strategy is simple; it makes you the product, not the customer.

Google is the king of online advertising. And online advertising is the primary resource of its income. For this, it creates super-efficient products by hiring one of the creative minds in the world.

Then, offer all of the products free and tell me who don’t like to use a free service? In this way, Google collects your data to understand your using habits and target you with the most relevant ads.

Moreover, the most unfortunate thing Google is successfully set a trend of using free services and products that offer premium services are overpriced such as Apple.

It seems like Apple’s CEO Tim Cook knows the dark plans of the king of online advertisement regarding releasing Google Photos. During the interview, he said:

“We believe the customer should be in control of their own information.

You might like these so-called free services, but we don’t think they’re worth having your email, your search history.

And now even your family photos data mined and sold off for god knows what advertising purpose. And we think someday; customers will see this for what it is.”

What if tell you what Tim Cook stated regarding Google services is true.

According to to Google’s terms and condition, once you opt-in for its service, you are giving all the right to do the following things with your data:

“Host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works, communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute.”

Although, according to Google officials, they stated that they don’t use your photos or other types of data for advertising and business purposes without users’ permission.

However, on the other side, the record of accomplishment of Google doesn’t allow me personally to trust them with my personal data at all.

Since it success is depend on sharing and analyzing users’ online data. But if you still want to use Google Photos service, you can do some tweaks to make it a bit secure to use by following the steps from here.

Conclusion

After all the information, I provided in this blog, I believe you would make up your mind to not only use Google Photos but every single service offer by Google.

Just imagine for a moment, Google scans your images and figure out what brand you like to wear. Then use it to target with ads of that specific brand you like.

Or since there is a trend of face recognition technology, Google can use your photos to get the access of your private account, which is horrifying.

And time after time it will gradually learns every single habit of yours and eventually start targeting you more efficiently by showing you the thing you are looking for.

What is the Risk of Using Google Photos?

The biggest risk of using Google products is your online privacy. Though the services and tools offer by Google are out of this world when comes to its performance and features.

However, I believe nothing is bigger than your online privacy. Companies like Google uses and shares data with different organizations and spying countries (see my 5 eyes, 9 eyes and 14 eyes guide).

In this way, hackers and cyberstalkers can steal your information and turn your life in to nightmare. In the end, the decision is yours that you still want to use Google Photos or not.

Let me know, how many of you decide to quit Google Photos by mentioning your view in the comment section.

Salman Ahmed's Biography

Salman Ahmed Siddiqui is a passionate writer who loves to write about online privacy, crypto economy and trending technological developments. He loves to provide effective tips and guideline related to rising cyber challenges. When he is not writing, Salman watches Manchester United play and demonstrates his love for football with his mad FIFA skills.

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