"Our work on privacy and security is never done, we want to do more to stay ahead of the constantly evolving user expectations", said Google CEO Sundar Pichai at Google's annual developers conference I/O 2019. "We always want to do more for users, but do it with less data over time." Google has announced some privacy controls including for location and web activity. Its worth noting that Google was slapped with a €50 million penalty by France’s data regulator CNIL for privacy violations under the GDPR, this came amidst more global scrutiny and regulation of technology companies by various governments. Earlier this year, Google shuffled its global policy operations, reportedly due to increased pressure coming from "increased responsibilities, the heightened public focus on tech and the growth of our business" and to better engage with governments and other stakeholders. Although it remains to be seen what the coming year will bring, here's a lowdown on all the privacy focused changes announced at I/O 2019: 1. Access to privacy and security settings: Users can now review and delete their recent Search activity within the Search app, Google has made account and history settings more accessible across apps including Search. Auto delete controls are available right on the Search app, and users can choose how long they want their data to be stored. This feature has rolled out to web and app activity, and is coming later for location history. One tap access to Google Account coming to Chrome, Search, Assistant, Google News…
