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If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

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Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#51

Post by peteretep »

davexunit wrote: post #43
Alterlife wrote: post #10

This actually doesn't seem terrible to me: If I published a public review on a product, why should Google not auto-match this up to a search result? That's the logical next step. It's what I'd expect from Google. I don't see anything privacy breaking about it of it's own... As long as the review was public, ofcourse -- or only being shown to those it was published to. That said, I just went ahead and opted-out of it…

Why there are so many Google apologists?

I dunno. Why are there so many people so angry with Google that anyone who doesn't think this is "THE END OF THE DAMN WORLD AS WE KNOW IT?!?" is an apologist?

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#52

Post by oscargrouch »

Alterlife wrote: post #10

This actually doesn't seem terrible to me: If I published a public review on a product, why should Google not auto-match this up to a search result? That's the logical next step. It's what I'd expect from Google. I don't see anything privacy breaking about it of it's own... As long as the review was public, ofcourse -- or only being shown to those it was published to. That said, I just went ahead and opted-out of it…

I think the issue here is not much about privacy, but about your image being associated with a product without your prior consent(for each product), and for free.. when they do this, you become the product together with the thing you are endorsing..

To make this more clear, imagine you signup for a new cable television channel, and you watching it, suddenly your image shows up with a product in your hands, smiling, and saying: "This is the best product i ever used", and you realize that its being broadcasted to everybody watching it.. would you fell comfortable about that?

Once we settle down for this kind of things, and think its normal, we are contributing to a world where we are constantly sold as a product; and that my friend completely diminish the human nature.. its a slow and erosive dead of humanity (in the confucian sense of it)..

All values we give importance today as freedom, truth.. will lose more and more value, and the only thing valuable in society will be money..

I know it may look like a exacerbation, but this is a systemic process, going on from several front lines.. and that one is one of them..

This is not much about privacy implications (despite it has some too), but more in a ethical degree.. and the failure to detect it properly can have severe consequences to us all in the long term

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#53

Post by magicalist »

geerlingguy wrote: post #9

Disappointing. Facebook's decision to use people in their ads, and also automatically subscribe people to spam from Facebook Pages, has already made clicking the Like button a 'heavy' action—meaning I have to think about it before doing it, and most likely won't click nowadays. Google Plus is the same now. I used to consider handing out a quick +1 to any post I liked, or a cool site/service. But now, I have to think…

Not to alarm you, but actually I think a company would be entitled to use your tweet in their ads (with or without involvement by twitter).

A tweet is meant for public consumption (if it's public), you mention their product...as long as they don't make it look like you're saying something you're not, saying that you said that seems to be just stating a fact (which is well covered by the first amendment), and as long as they've only taken a sentence or a fragment of a sentence, they should be well covered by fair use as far as copyright is concerned.

I'm having trouble finding case law on this, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#54

Post by yohui »

TheSisb2 wrote: post #44
ToastyMallows wrote: post #2

Opt out link for the lazy: https://plus.google.com/settings/endorsements

Looks like an opt-IN link for me... Does that mean I'm already opted out somehow?

Probably this?

https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/changes/

> If you previously told Google that you did not want your +1’s to appear in ads, then of course we’ll continue to respect that choice as a part of this updated setting.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#55

Post by spankalee »

cloudwalking wrote: post #18
minikites wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. What if you're in a marginalized group? Now online harassment can move into real world harassment if you've reviewed local places you enjoy. Lots of people are harmed by a "real names" policy: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Who_is_harmed_by_a_%22Rea...

Why would Google show a negative review as an "endorsement"? If you rate a restaurant 1 out of 5 stars, Google isn't going to show "Cloudwalking rated this 1/5 stars!" in an ad.

Actually, I would really hope they do. One of the principles behind Google's ad systems is that they're useful for users and advertisers, that a good ad can benefit everyone involved.

If they show me an ad for something that my friends have negatively reviewed, I damn well want to see those negative reviews right along-side the ad.

Disclaimer: Googler

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#56

Post by hrjet »

Ygg2 wrote: post #37

Am I the only one that sees the comedic potential in this? Rate something 5/5. For example for a review of a restauraunt say "5/5. Sure beats eating rats infected with syphilis." or "4/5. Tastes like leprosy! Smells like porn locker!" And I'm just being very bad here: http://www.amazon.com/Avoid-Huge-Ships-John-Trimmer/dp/08703...

This is exactly what I thought. How are they going to be sure that the review is actually honest and relevant. What if I say something contradictory in the review? Or post irrelevant stuff in it?

The only way they could avoid such face-palms would be to do some sort of natural language analysis. Or have humans curate and cherry-pick the reviews. The latter one would be worrying indeed.

People are already ruffled up about their emails being scanned automatically. If their G+ posts are going to be scanned and cherry-picked by humans, it's even more unsettling.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#57

Post by brandnewlow »

magicalist wrote: post #53
geerlingguy wrote: post #9

Disappointing. Facebook's decision to use people in their ads, and also automatically subscribe people to spam from Facebook Pages, has already made clicking the Like button a 'heavy' action—meaning I have to think about it before doing it, and most likely won't click nowadays. Google Plus is the same now. I used to consider handing out a quick +1 to any post I liked, or a cool site/service. But now, I have to think…

Not to alarm you, but actually I think a company would be entitled to use your tweet in their ads (with or without involvement by twitter). A tweet is meant for public consumption (if it's public), you mention their product...as long as they don't make it look like you're saying something you're not, saying that you said that seems to be just stating a fact (which is well covered by the first amendment), and as long…

Twitter has made it known they do not want people using Tweets in ads without following their brand guidelines.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#58

Post by hrjet »

rocky1138 wrote: post #4

Why would someone write a review for something but then not expect to have that review used by the business to further their sales?

The hitch is that G+ users are not writing reviews; they are just writing what they think are comments or mini-blog posts.

They are being taken out of that context and marketed as reviews by Google.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#59

Post by jff »

kevinh wrote: post #7
rocky1138 wrote: post #4

Why would someone write a review for something but then not expect to have that review used by the business to further their sales?

It's generally not the review that's the problem, but tying it to a user's image and real name without their permission.

"My God! That review I posted publicly on G+, the one associated with my real name G+ profile, is visible on the Internet!"

If you write a review, then someone searches for that place on Google Maps, your review will come up on the place page--with your name and picture next to it, now less! It's... not really much different, except that this is being used in ~~ads~~.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#60

Post by cloudwalking »

spankalee wrote: post #55
cloudwalking wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would Google show a negative review as an "endorsement"? If you rate a restaurant 1 out of 5 stars, Google isn't going to show "Cloudwalking rated this 1/5 stars!" in an ad.

Actually, I would really hope they do. One of the principles behind Google's ad systems is that they're useful for users and advertisers, that a good ad can benefit everyone involved. If they show me an ad for something that my friends have negatively reviewed, I damn well want to see those negative reviews right along-side the ad. Disclaimer: Googler

Better yet, Google should not show ads for products that my friends rate poorly...
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