Online Ads, Privacy Remain In FTC Crosshairs 95
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the tracking-is-the-governments-job dept.
from the tracking-is-the-governments-job dept.
AC95 writes "The FTC wants to give users a browser-based tool for opting out of online behavioral tracking, a proposal that has privacy advocates cheering and online advertisers up in arms. A key issue, says FTC attorney Loretta Garrison, is that while most consumers know they're tracked online, they don't fully appreciate how much information is collected. Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, worries about knee-jerk legislation criminalizing mistakes that are an inherent part of applying any new technology."
Re:Mistakes? (Score:3, Informative)
Troll mod? Really? The parent is 100% correct. I certainly wouldn't sleep as well at night if I knew that a business that fucked up with any personal data they had on me could get away with it by calling it a "mistake."
Re:Very Muddy Waters (Score:1, Informative)
I would guess we all probably fall into two camps- either dramatically underestimating or dramatically overestimating the level of information stored in the profile.
There's a lot of data stored, but I imagine it would be completely uninteresting to look at. You can see a summary of it here: https://www.google.com/dashboard/ [google.com]
Google looks at all sorts of information about you personally, but when it comes down to it, it all just ends up as a bunch of meaningless (except to computers) numbers used to classify your preferences so they can show you better search results, or ads which you'll like better than non-targeted ads (and if you like them better, you're more likely to click on them). There isn't some grand evil privacy-invading plot with a Googler specifically looking at your profile and laughing about what you clicked on. The data they have about you is used specifically so you like their product more.
Further than that, they use data in aggregate rather than on a personal level for all sorts of other things, but normally, people are fine with aggregated data.
Re:Very Muddy Waters (Score:1, Informative)
It's hard to be objective about whether to want to protect my privacy or not given I have zero idea of what Google's profile of me looks like.
You might want to look at Google Ads Preferences: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/
It gives you insight into your profile, lets you opt out, and also provides a browser-based tool to allow that opt-out to persist after you clear your cookies.
Firefox Addons Already Provide Customized Blocking (Score:4, Informative)