Google’s explanation in this instance feels lacking. The company told CNBC that the Purchases page exists simply “to help you easily view and keep track of your purchases, bookings and subscriptions in one place” and that it does not sell user data or use your Gmail information to show you ads. But the company’s privacy page also notes that “information about your orders may also be saved with your activity in other Google services.”

Scrolling through my Purchases, I couldn’t shake the most basic questions: What good reason is there for Google to store six years of detailed purchase information? Why can’t I delete it without deleting the emailed receipts? Why aren’t there default time limits on how long information is stored?

I had the same reaction reading a story in The Washington Post last week that revealed how in just one week, 5,400 hidden app trackers transmitted personal data (in some cases, violating app privacy policies) to third parties. I found it hard to get through the piece without getting tripped up on a series of “whys”: Why do our apps hoover up our personal information and funnel it out in the dead of night? Why aren’t these behaviors limited by our phones by default? Patrick Jackson, a former National Security Agency researcher who helped The Post conduct the tracker experiment, had similar questions. “This is your data,” he told The Post. “Why should it even leave your phone? Why should it be collected by someone when you don’t know what they’re going to do with it?”

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