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Today, Google announced a new way for advertisers to be able to target their ads based on visitors' behaviour. Google calls this "interest-based advertising", i.e. advertising according to your interests.
But some may call it a gross invasion of privacy.
How does Google determine what you're interested in? It uses your history of previously visited websites to figure that out. The way current browsers are designed, it is theoretically impossible for Google to know where you're going unless you explicitly allow it to do so, e.g. by installing its Google toolbar in your browser.
But there are a few other less obvious ways that Google can collect your history. One of them could be through its AdSense network. Website publishers make use of AdSense to deliver ads and earn revenue. With its large AdSense network, Google has in its hands websites that cut across a swath of categories -- and the people who visit those websites. It would be trivial for the Google AdSense cookie to add your visit to Google's history-tracking database.
Another method, which a friend brought up, could be through Google Analytics. This is another tool that is used by a huge number of websites. Google Analytics is used to track website traffic. But owners can also allow their website tracking information to be shared with other Google products. So who's to say that Google isn't using Analytics to collect visitors' web history?
Of course, all of the above is speculation. But that doesn't mean it's not possible. Should you be worried? I am. And Google probably understands that. It's provided a page where you can set your advertising opt-in preferences . But based on my usage, it seems like the page isn't working. I get an error that my browser is blocking cookies, even when I've set my preferences to accept all (which, by the way, is something that you should never do, unless you really don't care about your privacy).
What do you think about this new development in advertising?
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