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Comment by mml | Hacker News Reader

I deleted my g+ profile a week or so ago, it didn't take gmail with it (or my domain).

Fun fact: During the deletion process, Google says they'll "attempt to remove your data over the next few weeks" I assume they throw up their hands after a few nanoseconds, and just store it all anyway.

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Google takes data deletion very, very seriously. If you delete your profile, all the data associated with it will most certainly be eradicated. When you read things like "over the next few weeks," consider that there are things like regular offline backups (maybe on tape). That kind of media is thoroughly cleaned out on a regular schedule, but due to its offline nature you can't really expect it to be cleared immediately when you press the button.

Is it a measure of how far Google's reputation has plummeted, that absolutely no one in this forum believes that for a nanosecond? You could try adding some credentials so we would believe you know what you're saying. Or even a link to a policy statement. But its probably 'too little too late' - the Google brand is damaged goods by now.

I believe it. Don't overgeneralize based on a few low-effort replies to a random post.

I don't believe it. Sorry. They are a for-profit corporation, and they are about making money for investors by providing value to their customers. We are not their customers. Advertisers are their customers.

What are your credentials to say this without doubt?

I don't know about humbledrone, but this is my impression as a Google employee.

Ahah my impression - even a goog employee doesn't vouch for his employer anymore - maybe try to say something more affirmative if you want to be at least believed by the most naive of us.

Or... perhaps he just doesn't know for certain, and gave an honest reply.

I work on open source software on a team that doesn't handle any user data. [1] When people on other teams talk about data deletion they talk about having to make sure that when a user deletes something it really does get deleted from everywhere. I spent a couple minutes searching for a Google blog post explaining how this works and didn't find one, so rather than overpromise I just left it as "my impression".

[1] https://github.com/pagespeed/ngx_pagespeed

Btw., the only reason they do, is because they are required to by EU law. It's not some last shred of the "Don't be evil" policy or something.

Good joke.

Haha.

Nice try, Google PR.

Google gives me no reason to believe you. Their business is based on this, why should they?

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