As if privacy advocates didn’t have problems with Google already, its latest product introduction will only create more issues. Google has introduced its version of “behavioral advertising” which serves up ads based on someone’s previous online activities.
Not suprisingly, Google has dubbed the program “interested-based advertising” in order to make it sound more innocuous. The program will be launched in a beta form on YouTube and its partner sites. Users will be shown ads from certain categories of interests like cars, sports, movies, etc. based on the user’s past website browsing.
Google is going out of its way to market the new advertising platform as a consumer-friendly service. Susan Wojcicki, Google’s VP of Product Management, noted in a recent blog post that “by making ads more relevant, and improving the connection between advertisers and our users, we cn create more value for everyone. Users get more useful ads, and these more relevant ads generate higher returns for advertisers and publishers.” If you are concerned about your online privacy, there is some good news. Google is giving users the ability to see and edit their profile information that has been compiled based on their browsing history. It will also provide a way for users to opt-out of the behavioral targeting ads. Yahoo and AOL also allow users to opt-out of their own behavioral targeting platforms.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m really not sure if I like this or not. What do you think is this good or bad?
I don’t think it’s a big deal personally. I think it’s great that they are allowing users to opt-out. Yahoo and MSN have had a similar program for while now and nobody has really complained.