Google launches ‘Account Activity’: Monthly insight reports based on Web interaction

Élyse Betters | Mar 28 2012 - 11:16 am PT

Google just launched a new feature called “Account Activity” that sends account-holders monthly encrypted reports about their signed-in frittering across the Web and Google services.

Once a user opts-in to the feature, Google will confirm and then send the first monthly report (see image below). The full-report gives Account information, such as locations, browsers, and platforms employed while Internet surfing.

The report also gives Gmail specifics, like most contacted addresses and to-and-fro message counts, and it breaks-down other Google services’ particulars, including Web history with users’ top searches, types, and queries, and a personal YouTube report on uploaded video activity and viewers’ location data. Users can also delete old reports or browse previous months as they begin to pile up.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based Company has come under fire in recent months over privacy concerns, so Google’s Product Manager Andreas Tuerk took to the official Google Blog this morning to alleviate any worries:

“Knowing more about your own account activity also can help you take steps to protect your Google Account. For example, if you notice sign-ins from countries where you haven’t been or devices you’ve never owned, you can change your password immediately and sign up for the extra level of security provided by 2-step verification.”

Tuerk also offered his report as an example of what to expect with Google’s new feature:

Account Activity is live now, but Google plans to roll out further compatibility with more of its services over the next few months. In the mean time, Google encourages account-holders to click the “Send feedback” button in the lower right corner of their reports to help the search engine comply with expectations.