Galt's Gulch

Google Ads Personal Info Starts Today

Posted by sdesapio 12 years, 4 months ago to Technology
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"After announcing a new update to their terms of service back in November, Google will start using your profile information in advertisements that will appear to contacts in your Google+ circles. This means that your profile name and photo could pop up in the form of recommendation regarding an app in the Google Play Store. Fortunately, there's a way to opt out of it."
SOURCE URL: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-ads-personal-info-starts-today-2014-1

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  • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 12 years, 4 months ago
    Hey Scott!
    Regarding personal stuff, I actually reside in CT, not Philadelphia. Have never lived there. I am however from Pittsburgh, lol! I just saw the header in the newsletter. It explains an email I received earlier today though. :-).
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  • Posted by cp256 12 years, 4 months ago
    It was already turned off on my g+, which I really don't use and it doesn't have any personal info in it anyway. I don't recall turning it off or even seeing it before so I don't really know if off is the default or not.
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    • Posted by Tippecanoe 12 years, 4 months ago
      I never turned it on. I figured I didn't need any personal info or yet another social media thing spreading it around. Turned out to be right.
      Just saw this earlier:
      Man gets ARRESTED after Google+ 'sent an automatic invitation' to his ex who had a restraining order against him
      ->http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2536013/Man-gets-ARRESTED-Google-sent-automatic-invitation-ex-restraining-order-against-him.html
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  • Posted by DaveM49 12 years, 4 months ago
    I don't search via Google. There are other search engines, including at least one which does not collect or track searches. I will not sign away my personal privacy each time I want to find a recipe or information on that funny noise my car is making.
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    • Posted by DaveM49 12 years, 4 months ago
      StartPage and DuckDuckGoose are two reasonably secure search engines. One can also use the TOR browser package, which insures that you searches will not be connected to your ip address, even by Google.
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      • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 12 years, 4 months ago
        Hello DaveM49,
        Please tell me more. Are these browsers reliable and do they work well with this site?
        O.A.
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        • Posted by DaveM49 12 years, 4 months ago
          TOR is basically a free download package which uses Firefox (or some of Firefox's code). It is a bit slower than "ordinary" Firefox, but disguises your IP, and you can switch IPs at the touch of a button. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but at least part of it involves the use of multiple proxy servers which essentially make the tracing of browsing activity to an IP impossible. Or so, at least, I have been told.

          The only disadvantage to TOR, in my experience, is that the browser bundle automatically blocks most on-page scripts (e.g. Java and Flash). You can't use it with YouTube, for example. A minor quibble.

          Naturally, most media coverage of TOR (short for The Onion Router, referring to the means by which data transmission is disguised) only mentions its use by criminals (e.g. The Silk Road). I have read articles which claim that use of the package "provides access to an entirely different Internet". No idea what might be behind these claims. When I have used it, it goes to the same sites I have always used and nothing else magically pops up on the screen. But to my knowledge, my activities are private, as everyone has a right to expect from their telecommunications.

          StartPage is TOR's default search engine. If it is private by their standards, I have to assume it is at least reasonably so. DuckDuckGoose has been described as "Google without all the crap" and appears to be a very good search engine.

          TOR is simple to download and install. There are a number of tutorials which will get you started on the most commonly-used features right away. I doubt that anything is "unbreakable", but I have tested my copy against all of the IP tracking sites I could find as well as several sites which display one's IP when you log in. All showed the "wrong" IP address.
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          • Posted by DaveM49 12 years, 4 months ago
            Neglected to mention that there are a few things you cannot do with TOR while retaining your anonymity. Downloading anything, for example, creates a fixed link between the downloading server and your IP address. You might as well do any downloading you have in mind via an "open" browser.

            TOR also does not conceal the origin of messages sent via any form of instant messaging software. They do offer an "anonymous chat client", but I have never used it and so cannot vouch for its compatibility with anything.

            In a weird irony, TOR was originally developed to provide secure communications for the U.S. Navy.

            http://www.torproject.com
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  • Posted by $ puzzlelady 12 years, 4 months ago
    Thanks for the alert and the fix. Being "used" by Google+ and its advertisers in a blanket consent form is just plain wrong. It offends against personal sovereignty. I agree with O.A.'s objection to being forced to opt out rather than invited to opt in. It's the difference between the principle that anything not expressly prohibited is allowed versus the totalitarian approach that anything not expressly allowed is prohibited.
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