Uhhh, Google might have sent some of your private Google Photos videos to strangers

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Well now, this is unfortunate. Some Google Photos users have had their private videos sent to completely random users. That’s due to a technical issue with Google’s export service, Takeout, according to Google. When some users requested their data archive, video content from unrelated accounts might have been included, or their own videos incorrectly exported to other users’ archives.

Umm, yikes? We trust Google with almost every facet of our digital lives and bugs like this are both terrible and unacceptable.

Google might have sent your Google Photos videos to complete strangers

Whoa, what? @googlephotos? pic.twitter.com/2cZsABz1xb

— Jon Oberheide (@jonoberheide) February 4, 2020

It’s bad enough when someone sends you an unsolicited video, but what fresh horror is it when the company you trust to keep your private videos, well, private, ends up sending them to strangers? That’s what happened for a small percentage of Google Photos users in November last year, finding videos from unknown people inside their data archive, or inadvertently sending their own videos to strangers thanks to a bug in Google’s export tool.

• Users who used Google Takeout between Nov 21 and Nov 25 of 2019 might have gotten more than just their data, or an incomplete archive of their own data
• Google says only 0.01 percent of Google Photos users who used Takeout during that time period were affected
• Over a billion people use Google Photos worldwide

If anyone needs me, I’ll be at the Apple Store, buying an iPhone…

What do you think? Surprised by this news regarding Google and Google Photos? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.