Google threatens privacy with new ad system

 

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Posted on 12 Mar 2009 at 12:17

Google will monitor your browsing habits to target adverts based on your interests. The scheme has been launched amidst controversy surrounding Phorm, a service that ISPs are planning to use to deliver targeted adverts based on websites that users visit.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the internet, spoke out at the Houses of Parliament against advertising schemes that monitor users' browsing habits.

"It is very important that when click, we click without a thought that a third party knows what we're clicking on," reported The Register. "There will be a huge commercial pressure to release this data. I feel that it should just not be collected."

Google acknowledged that users may be worried about the privacy of their browsing habits. It aims to tackle these concerns by clearly labelling the ads and offering information about how your information is used.

Google has also built a tool called Ads Preferences Manager, which lets you view, delete, or add interest categories associated with your browser so that you can choose the ads that you want to see.

You can also opt out of the advertising scheme. To make sure that your opt-out decision isn't deleted if you clear the cookies from your browser, Google has designed a plug-in for your browser that maintains your opt-out choice.

Despite the controversy surrounding behavioural ad targeting, Google defended its new scheme, claiming that targeted ads will do more good than harm.

"We believe there is real value to seeing ads about the things that interest you," said Google VP Susan Wojcicki. "If, for example, you love adventure travel and therefore visit adventure travel sites, Google could show you more ads for activities like hiking trips to Patagonia or African safaris."

The company already uses an advertising targeting scheme called AdSense in its search engine. However, the adverts are based on search queries that you input, rather than by recording browsing habits. For example, if you search for "digital camera" on Google's search engine, you'll see ads from the company's AdSense partners related to digital cameras.

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota