Electronic Freedom Foundation to the Rescue!

The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) and (to their credit) Google have developed some options for countering Google's cyberstalking advertising initiative. While it is not an opt-in program, which would be best for users and terrible for Google because few people really want to be watched like this, it is something. Like all good placading gestures, the options offered rely on the initiative of the public to go to some effort to thwart the harvesting of their web browsing behavior.

Get the full EFF break down of this issue. Then consider if you want to avail yourself of the "Advertising Cookie Opt-Out Plugin" - even the name takes work. You may also influence how the stacks of data they gather about what you appear to like on the web is used with the Google "Ad Preferences Manager Tool".

So, in summary, Google will follow you everywhere all the time unless you get an opt-out restraining order. But, at least you can get a restraining order.

Oh, and please consider supporting the EFF in some way. I have donated in the past. They do great work helping the web-using public protect themselves.

Big Google is Watching

Here we go again. Google is going to (officially) start watching, recording, and selling your web browsing habits. "Interest-based advertising" is based on profiling your interactions with content on the web. No word as yet if you, as a user, have the right or an easy mechanism to globally opt out of their cyber surveillance.

The team at AdSense, Google's advertising arm, sent me the following "Hey, you need to update your privacy policy to tell people they have no privacy. Thanks." note...

Hi,

We're writing to let you know about the upcoming launch of interest-based advertising, which will require you to review and make any necessary changes to your site's privacy policies. You'll also see some new options on your Account Settings page.

Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to show ads based on a user's previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests (e.g. "sports enthusiast"). To develop interest categories, we will recognize the types of web pages users visit throughout the Google content network. As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we will add them to the "sports enthusiast" interest category.

As a result of this announcement, your privacy policy will now need to reflect the use of interest-based advertising. Please review the information at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=100557 to ensure that your site's privacy policies are up-to-date, and make any necessary changes by April 8, 2009. Because publisher sites and laws vary across countries, we're unfortunately unable to suggest specific privacy policy language.

For more information about interest-based advertising, you can also visit the Inside AdSense Blog at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/03/driving-monetization-with-ads-that.html.

We appreciate your participation and look forward to this upcoming enhancement.

Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team

I find this move objectionable as both web developer and a web user.

In addition to being creepy, this kind of pervasive cross-domain tracking of a user is going to make life very difficult for honest, ethical web developers who use cookies responsibly. The inevitable and largely indiscriminate cookie-killing backlash that is sure to follow is going to make moving around the Web seem like work as users are confronted with warning after warning about benign cookie operations.

I believe an ethical implementation of a personalization engine like this must provide an easy way to opt out and allow people to view and adjust their profile.

Inferring user 'interests' is a dicey game. In 1998 the Internet consultancy I worked for acquired a Toronto based web firm that had developed a personalization system that inferred users' interest based on their browsing. The newly acquired staff held a seminar to educate the company on the capabilities of their software. The presenter talked about the benefits to the user, downplaying the privacy and ethical issues. Near the end of the talk the presenter pulled up his own profile to illustrate how well the system can know a user over time. While he stood facing 150 of his new colleagues the 30 foot screen behind him declared that "...you are interested in 'sex' and 'young children'."

Fortunately, they were listed as separate interests. The moral of my tale is that even if you turn your back on the privacy issues in a system like this, they are still there.

Playing with Photos

I've been working to digitize my family's photographs and slides. Among the slides were a series of photos taken by my late uncle John. He had convinced my mother, then 17ish, to sit for him while he practiced his photography. I decided to work with one of those slide images.

I dug through my own images and some stock and whipped up the new composite. I took about 3 hours. There are a lot of refinements that still could be made, but I'm pleased with the outcome. This is a fun way to refresh older photographs.

Truly Wont Die

ANOTHER Friday the 13th movie? Really?

Eye Of Newt 2009