I'm not this does anything for privacy though. In my tin-foil hat mode, I think they take your data and use it how ever they want. If you have this enabled, they do these "local to you" type of things, and if it is disabled then it goes to the main search. However, that does not prevent them from saving that data linked to you in another table/database. It just means you no longer get the "benefit", but you never prevent Googs from benefiting.

Isn't this one of those sneaky "we'll still harvest your data we just won't save it to your account activity viewer" type deals?

What evidence could I or anyone else offer that would convince you?

I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm genuinely curious what you think could convince you. Perhaps you could get a job at Google and investigate the relevant code?

This came from documents unsealed in Google v. Oracle.

Opting out of that doesn't mean Google stops tracking you. Only some parts of its machinery stop. Even Google's own employees have no idea which parts collect which data.

To all those downvoting, read yourselves https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/08/unredacted-suit-...