Google Starts Using Behavioral Ads > Next.

said by hottboiinnc:

In other news this month Google will be sued. And everyone thought they couldn't do no harm or anything illegal.

Time for them to go Bye Bye next!

Two online privacy groups slammed Google for launching a behavioral advertising program, with one advocate calling Google's plan a privacy "disaster."

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "It's a disaster," he said. "It's about whether the most dominant Internet media firm should be able to exploit its access to Internet user data for advertising purposes. Google long maintained it would not do this type of advertising. Indeed, they claimed they didn't need to and they went after others who did." Rotenberg called on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to halt Google's plans.

Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), another privacy advocacy group, will call on Google to allow users to opt in to behavioral tracking instead of requiring that they opt out, the current policy, said Jeffrey Chester, CDD's executive director. Google also needs to promise it won't target Internet users under age 18, Chester said.

Chester disputed Google's claims that the beta test is about delivering more interesting ads. "No, it's not," he said. "It's about the most powerful interactive ad company expanding its data collection and targeting activities on users."

"The cookie opt-out doesn't work, it's a bad idea," he said. "People who care about their privacy enough to opt out also are the same people who delete their cookies."