[Infowarrior] - Google to monitor surfing behaviour

Wed Mar 11 14:55:50 UTC 2009

Google to base ads on surfing behaviour

11 Mar 2009 11:09

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/misc/print/0,1000000169,39625962-39001105c,00.htm

The web giant is to start tracking users as they surf across sites  
that use Google AdSense, so it can serve more targeted advertising

Google is to start serving advertisements to its users based on their  
browsing habits, the web giant announced on Wednesday.

The company already offers advertising related to the site being  
surfed — so long as that site is a Google AdSense partner or YouTube.  
But the beta test of what Google calls "interest-based" advertising  
will take a wider view of the user's surfing habits to target served  
ads even more accurately. The service will launch on 8 April.

"These ads will associate categories of interest — say sports,  
gardening, cars, pets — with your browser, based on the types of sites  
you visit and the pages you view," Google's vice president of product  
management, Susan Wojcicki, wrote on the official Google blog. "We may  
then use those interest categories to show you more relevant text and  
display ads."

The new ad-serving system works by downloading a DoubleClick cookie to  
the user's browser to track their path through various AdSense-using  
sites. DoubleClick is an ad-serving company that was acquired by  
Google last year.

As with any other cookie, this tracking file can be cleared by the  
user at any time. By visiting Google's ad-preferences page, the user  
can opt out of having their surfing habits tracked, or input their own  
preferences for the subject matter of ads they would like to see.

However, as clearing the browser's cookies would effectively remove  
the opt-out cookie itself, Google has also released a plug-in for  
browsers that provides a permanent opt-out from the service.

Google is keen to stress the transparency of its approach. "We already  
clearly label most of the ads provided by Google on the AdSense  
partner network and on YouTube," Wojcicki wrote. "You can click on the  
labels to get more information about how we serve ads, and the  
information we use to show you ads. This year we will expand the range  
of ad formats and publishers that display labels that provide a way to  
learn more and make choices about Google's ad serving."

A spokesman for Google told ZDNet UK on Wednesday morning that the  
company had "gone beyond the industry standard" for privacy in  
contextual advertising. "We were never going to be comfortable doing  
it unless we could offer this choice for the users," the spokesman said.

Asked whether there were any comparison to be made with Phorm, the ad- 
serving company that drew protests when it conducted user-monitoring  
trials with BT without first informing the subjects, the spokesman  
said Google had "been open and transparent from the start".

"The ads won't start being served across the network until 8 April,"  
Google's spokesperson said. "Our AdSense partners are being given a  
month's notice. With all our AdSense partners, if they want to opt out  
of this sort of technology, they can. We hope that the more relevant  
ads are, the more advertisers would be prepared to pay for them at  
auction." He added that Google hopes publishers will be as positive  
about this technology as the advertisers themselves.

In a statement, Google also addressed the opt-out nature of the  
service, which means users need to make a conscious decision to stop  
being tracked.

"Offering an opt-in would go against the very economic model of the  
majority of content on the internet," Google's statement read.  
"Consumers prefer to see more relevant advertising, which in turn  
fuels many of the services on the internet. We don't want to go  
against a model that is giving consumers the benefits they need out of  
it. If certain users prefer not to receive interest-based ads, we  
believe that we give them clear information and tools to make that  
choice."

The Information Commissioner's Office also released a statement, in  
which it said it had spoken to Google about the service and was  
satisfied the company was giving users enough control over their data.

"Transparency and choice are important elements when addressing any  
consumer concerns about privacy and the monitoring of browser  
activity," the ICO's statement read. "In light of this, we are pleased  
that the preference manager feature allows users a high level of  
control over how their information is used, and that the method by  
which users can choose to opt out is saved permanently."

Story URL: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39625962,00.htm