Google is adding new ways to track you for ads, but it's letting you call the shots
http://www.recode.net/2016/6/28/12053686/google-tracking-activity-ads Since it began, Google has kept the vast amount of user data it tracks in silos. Information gathered from users while signed into Google accounts -- searches, YouTube videos watched -- was kept separate from data on web pages and apps visited. Not anymore. The company is rolling out a new service that pools data from across the entire web and mobile devices, giving it a potential boost to its core ads business. The big caveat: It's giving users total control -- and with that, they'll have the freedom to block particular ads carte blanche. It's a way for Google to get ahead of the growth of ad-blocking. By building the feature opt-in, it's also a way for Google to combat criticism of its privacy practices. - - - This permission model definitely works for me. While I've discussed in the past how "opt-in" is certainly not a panacea in all situations, this data sharing paradigm is one that calls for opt-in, and I'm pleased to see that Google is deploying it on an opt-in basis. Contrast with Facebook, who made a similar data sharing model "opt-out" -- not a good user experience. And since I've already been asked, my intention for now is to keep this new feature disabled on my Google accounts, since I prefer to compartment third-party sites separately from my core activities on Google accounts themselves. Your mileage may vary, of course. Kudos to the Google teams for setting a user-positive, privacy-positive default for this new feature set. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren Founder: - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone. _______________________________________________ pfir mailing list http://lists.pfir.org/mailman/listinfo/pfir
