41–50 of 103 posts
It's transparent but definitely not user friendly. When you opt out it uses a cookie so if your cookies get deleted you need to opt out again. Also, since opting out uses a cookie you must opt out on every browser on every machine you use. Definitely not convenient.
This is my full list, and none of it is surprising. I'm just glad they don't assume I'm older :-) Arts & Entertainment - Movies - Science Fiction & Fantasy Films Computers & Electronics Computers & Electronics - Hardware - ... - Chips & Processors Computers & Electronics - Hardware - ... - Sound & Video Cards Computers & Electronics - Hardware - Laptops Computers & Electronics - Programming Computers & Electronics -…
Oops.
"Your categories: You have opted out of Google's interest-based advertising. No interest categories are associated with your browser." To opt-out just go here: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/intl/en/plugin/
I'm curious. Why do you want ads shown to you NOT be targeted? Unless you're using adblock, you should be seeing a whole bunch of crappy ads for fat-loss solutions, IQ tests, "Which way is this mannequin turning?", etc... (Disclaimer: I co-founded a company now helping companies target ads. People opting out won't harm me economically, but I'm really trying to understand people's objections).
On my original look at this, Google had one of my interests as hockey. I've never shown any interest in the sport, nor have any of my friends, so I was confused. Upon reloading the page, "Hockey" was gone, although I had taken a screenshot before, and noticed a number of other preference had been removed, leaving a much better fit of my activities. Prior to my refresh I had video streamining, photo sharing, and onlin…
Very strange. Do you share your computer with others? The change is probably due to caching. If your computer isn't shared, I'd blame Google's classification which isn't always very accurate. Best example: a page of photos of pole dancers was classified as "winter sports" because the secondary navigation linked to relevant content...
Considering Google's expertise with data you'd think they'd have enough NLP know-how to avoid errors like the one you describe - interesting though.
"Your categories: You have opted out of Google's interest-based advertising. No interest categories are associated with your browser." To opt-out just go here: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/intl/en/plugin/
I'm curious. Why do you want ads shown to you NOT be targeted? Unless you're using adblock, you should be seeing a whole bunch of crappy ads for fat-loss solutions, IQ tests, "Which way is this mannequin turning?", etc... (Disclaimer: I co-founded a company now helping companies target ads. People opting out won't harm me economically, but I'm really trying to understand people's objections).
I want unsolicited ads to not be targeted for several reasons:
1) I don't want people to necessarily infer my interests/character based on ads they see when I'm just browsing the web. "Dude, why do you have porn ads all the time when you browse the web?"
2) I don't need to be sold to on a constant basis. Unless I'm in the market for something, I generally would prefer to not be sold to. Selling me something I'm sure to not care about, e.g., IQ tests, are almost the same as no ads. Showing me well-targeted ads are more likely to prove to be a distraction.
3) Privacy. I'd really prefer no one to have information that associates my account with specific information. It's hard to avoid today, but to the extent that I can reduce it, I will.
With that said, solicited ads are fine. If I do a search, x% of the time I'm looking for a product to purchase. I don't mind it then. Many of the websites I read, e.g., Engadget, are almost ad sites in that the content is generally about product for me to buy or use. And Android ads on Engadget are fine. They're not specifically targeted to me, but the demographic of people reading Engadget.
Me: Male from 35 to 44, no other information: That's not correct, I am a girl of 25.
This is my full list, and none of it is surprising. I'm just glad they don't assume I'm older :-) Arts & Entertainment - Movies - Science Fiction & Fantasy Films Computers & Electronics Computers & Electronics - Hardware - ... - Chips & Processors Computers & Electronics - Hardware - ... - Sound & Video Cards Computers & Electronics - Hardware - Laptops Computers & Electronics - Programming Computers & Electronics -…
I'm a 29 years old male, but according to Google I'm a 18-25 years old female. Oops.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very strange. Do you share your computer with others? The change is probably due to caching. If your computer isn't shared, I'd blame Google's classification which isn't always very accurate. Best example: a page of photos of pole dancers was classified as "winter sports" because the secondary navigation linked to relevant content...
Indeed - no, I'm the sole user of the computer, it just seems odd that so many disappeared, I'd almost not believe it if I hadn't taken a screenshot! Considering Google's expertise with data you'd think they'd have enough NLP know-how to avoid errors like the one you describe - interesting though.
Granted, that's a feature only found in newer browsers, but it could help speed up the adoption of that header.
Anyways, I will continue to just block everything that remotely looks like Google (besides the API, that is. It's disconcerting to see how many websites rely on it to function properly).