How to opt out of some targeted Google ads

Published on October 15, 2013 By DrJBHL In Personal Computing

You’re a commodity. Not just your data, you personally.

Google’s coming out with a new twist to their targeted ads. If you’ve ever said anything good about a product or service, starting on November 11th, Google will make the ads you see (and no matter what you do, you’ll see ads), Google will make things really personal. It will do that by referencing your Google + username, profile photo and implied endorsements via comments and +1s.

You can avoid some but not all ads by using an ad blocker. Some cross-browser online tracking and targeted ad-blocking add-ons include DoNotTrackMe and Disconnect.Me . I’ve written about these before. They were cited by the author of the article in “Source”.

Some ads will still show up. To keep your user name, profile picture and implied endorsements out of this system, please go here and follow the instructions.

To un-target the ads you see, you’ll have to visit two other pages and “opt out”.

Think you’re out of the woods? No. If you use multiple browsers, you must opt out in each browser you use.

“This does not affect the non-ad use of your endorsements, which is when Google uses a recommendation you share to promote an item -- such as an MP3 in the Google Play music store -- without any money changing hands for the promotion.” – cnet news

According to Google:

“Before opting out of interest-based ads, you must individually delete your interests from Google's ad settings. When you mouse over each interest, an X will appear on the right. Click to remove the interest. When all have been cleared, you can opt out of interest-based ads in Google services.” – from cnet screenshot

You should go to the article. The necessary links are there. I do not intend to reproduce more of the article as that really would be “scraping”. You may also be targeted this way by other advertising sellers.

There are also instructions on how to opt out of Google's main advertising cookie, which will prevent it being saved to your computer. The link to that is in the article, but it's here.

My thanks to Seth Rosenblatt and cnet for this article.

Source:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57607426-93/how-to-opt-out-of-some-targeted-google-ads/?tag=nl.e214&s_cid=e214&ttag=e214&ftag=CAD3c77551

Comments

kona0197

on Oct 15, 2013

So if you don't have a Google + account everything is cool?

moshi

on Oct 15, 2013

i am not sure why you mention ad blockers and anti-tracking tools here. this probably just confuses people. this is not about the ads you see. this is about the ads other people see. that means for example you write an article about how much you like WindowBlinds. then somebody else might see an ad for WindowBlinds plus a link to your article. or just a simple mention like "DrJBHL and 12 other people like WindowBlinds"

PaxMayne

on Oct 15, 2013

I'm blocking that kind of crap completely using the windows hosts file

+ Adblock Plus + Ghostery

My hosts file:

127.0.0.1 appanalytics.stardock.com
127.0.0.1 googleanalytics.com
127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com

DrJBHL

on Oct 15, 2013

moshi

reply 2

i am not sure why you mention ad blockers and anti-tracking tools here.

I did so because the article did:

"It also doesn't prevent data-collection agencies from gathering information about you from the Internet. It simply prevents them from using it to target ads to you. Some cross-browser online tracking and targeted ad-blocking add-ons include DoNotTrackMe and Disconnect.Me" - link

Confusing people? I have more faith in WC'ers than you, I guess.

Kona, there's more information in the article such as that I quoted in this reply.

moshi

on Oct 15, 2013

this is what i see as the main problem in your post (but i can see it's mostly copy/paste from the original article):

Google will make the ads you see (and no matter what you do, you’ll see ads), Google will make things really personal. It will do that by referencing your Google + username, profile photo and implied endorsements via comments and +1s.

it is not about the ads you see. how would it make sense to see your own photo or recommendation on an ad?

other people will see your photo or recommendation on the ads they get. whether you use an adblocker or anti-tracking tool has no effect on that.

this is the news. you can opt-in to that. here: https://plus.google.com/settings/endorsements?hl=en (actually everybody interested should read this site, it explains the topic better than that CNET article)

i should mention that it was an opt-in for me. that might be me only based on previous choices. it may be an opt-out for you. the only way to find out is visiting the site above.

the CNET article also mentions the opt-out of getting targeted ads based on your interests, language, gender, etc. this is nothing new, i opted-out of that at least three years ago.

moshi

on Oct 15, 2013

kona0197

reply 1

So if you don't have a Google + account everything is cool?

yes, but keep in mind that if you have an account at YouTube, GMail, Google Drive, Picasa, etc. you also have a Google+ account.

moshi

on Oct 15, 2013

To un-target the ads you see, you’ll have to visit two other pages and “opt out”.

Think you’re out of the woods? No. If you use multiple browsers, you must opt out in each browser you use.

i may also add that this is wrong. of course the settings tied to your account need to be set only once.

you do not have to opt out (or more likely opt in) in every browser.

the multiple browser thing is only true for the plugin that blocks the DoubleClick cookie. that is because Internet Explorer will not sync it's plugins with Chrome or Firefox and vice versa. and who would want such syncing anyways.

kona0197

on Oct 15, 2013

moshi

reply 6

yes, but keep in mind that if you have an account at YouTube, GMail, Google Drive, Picasa, etc. you also have a Google+ account.

Not true. I signed in to YouTube using my Gmail account credentials. YouTube tried to setup a Google + account for me, but I said no. I still have a channel on YouTube, but no Google + account.

kona0197

on Oct 15, 2013

[quote who="kona0197" reply="8" id="3404818"]

Quoting moshi, reply 6yes, but keep in mind that if you have an account at YouTube, GMail, Google Drive, Picasa, etc. you also have a Google+ account.

Not true. I signed in to YouTube using my Gmail account credentials. YouTube tried to setup a Google + account for me, but I said no. I still have a channel on YouTube, but no Google + account. Probably because I had that YouTube account before Google + was created.

moshi

on Oct 15, 2013

then you should not be able to log in to the opt out (or rather opt in) site above.

kona0197

on Oct 15, 2013

Got it, thanks.

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