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See what Google knows about you

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Re: See what Google knows about you

#51

Post by aw3c2 »

danielharan wrote: post #20
gst wrote: post #13

"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 do not want to be driven by (sometimes subconcious) suggestive methods but by my needs.

Re: See what Google knows about you

#52

Post by mayank »

danielharan wrote: post #20
gst wrote: post #13

"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).

The methods used to target ads can be more intrusive than you realize (speaking as a data mining person). I wrote a short piece about it: http://blog.twodeg.net/when-your-data-sings

Re: See what Google knows about you

#53

Post by reso »

kenjackson wrote: post #45
danielharan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'm curious. Why do you want ads shown to you NOT be targeted? 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…

1) Valid 2) You can't opt out of the ads. You're going to see them whether you want to or not. 3) You're opting out of the targeting, not the collection of your data. They will still have your data even if they don't use it for ad targeting.

Every now and then I see a perfectly targeted ad. like the other day I saw one for a chamber music concert a bus ride away. I saw an awesome concert and the venue got an extra sale. If that had been a random IQ test ad, I would have missed an awesome experience.

TL;DR targeting is better for everyone.

Re: See what Google knows about you

#56

Post by kenjackson »

reso wrote: post #53
kenjackson wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious. Why do you want ads shown to you NOT be targeted? 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…

1) Valid 2) You can't opt out of the ads. You're going to see them whether you want to or not. 3) You're opting out of the targeting, not the collection of your data. They will still have your data even if they don't use it for ad targeting. Every now and then I see a perfectly targeted ad. like the other day I saw one for a chamber music concert a bus ride away. I saw an awesome concert and the venue got an extra sa…

Regarding (2) my point was that non-targeted ads are almost the same as the ad not being there. My brain doesn't even process the "shoot the monkey" ad anymore.

Re (3), that sucks. If they're collecting and associating data with your account, but just not displaying the ads, I think that's a problem. Opting out should opt you out of associating data with your account.

Re: See what Google knows about you

#58

Post by danielharan »

mayank wrote: post #52
danielharan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

The methods used to target ads can be more intrusive than you realize (speaking as a data mining person). I wrote a short piece about it: http://blog.twodeg.net/when-your-data-sings

Great post. You're right that there's a lot of data out there!

Re: See what Google knows about you

#59

Post by rrrazdan »

mayank wrote: post #52
danielharan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

The methods used to target ads can be more intrusive than you realize (speaking as a data mining person). I wrote a short piece about it: http://blog.twodeg.net/when-your-data-sings

Really, two plugs in the same post!!

Re: See what Google knows about you

#60

Post by rrrazdan »

kenjackson wrote: post #45
danielharan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'm curious. Why do you want ads shown to you NOT be targeted? 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…

"Google does not associate sensitive interest categories with your ads preferences." So I think we are pretty safe on 1) .
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