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Google gathers data through Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager. Those are not websites you visit, nor are they the user’s employer, school, or Internet Serv

Google gathers data through Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager. Those are not websites you visit, nor are they the user’s employer, school, or Internet Service Provider. Moreover, it is not the case that the user’s web behavior “might” be visible to these services. They are. Google lied by omission. They could have easily put “right there on the tin” that they were using these products to track users, but they didn’t. That was deliberate. This sleight of hand is par for the course for Google, et al. “We don’t sell your private information” is the answer to the concern about private tracking, obfuscating the real concern of targeted behavioral advertising behind an altogether different one. They know what they’re doing. Letting them get away from it would be like letting cigarette companies put a label on their product that says “this product has not been proven to cause Alzheimer’s.”

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
> obfuscating the real concern of targeted behavioral advertising behind an altogether different one. I don't think this is accurate. I think for a lot of people the privacy issue really is about concern that their behavioral information would be sold and disseminated, and that it is a genuine attempt to address these concerned that Google and other sites are responding to when they say they don't sell private information. Certainly the laws that politicians are crafting (e.g. GDPR and the California privacy law) center the privacy interpretation of people's concerns. If most people were more concerned about behavioral tracking and targeting, I believe that politicians would be passing laws to ban that instead. I agree that for many commenters on this site, the concern has morphed into a concern about behavioral tracking, but my recollection is that this has not always been the case. I don't think Google intends to address that concern with its statements about not selling private information. But, to address the behavioral tracking concern, Google does have a setting that disables ad personalization: https://adssettings.google.com/ https://adssettings.google.com/.
- websites420 5y ago
  > I think for a lot of people the privacy issue really is about concern that their behavioral information would be sold and disseminated. People are only concerned about the things they can easily conceptualize. Google certainly hasn’t done anything to make it easier to understand behavioral ad targeting, probably because they didn’t want to be in this business to start with (they only moved into it during the dot com crash when they were pressured to get a business model together) and because they maintain relationships with intelligence agencies, allowing those groups to collect information they wouldn’t be able to get legally. On several levels, Google benefits directly from hiding their real business model from the users whose behavioral information surplus they exploit. Just because people have been slow to catch on doesn’t mean their Incognito disclosure isn’t inaccurate and downright misleading. Google doesn’t get points for hiding opt-out behind the labyrinthine settings toggles. Until the entire data collection process is opt-in, they’re exploiting user ignorance.
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
    > People are only concerned about the things they can easily conceptualize. My take is that people aren't concerned with things that don't pose significant risk to them. > and because they maintain relationships with intelligence agencies, allowing those groups to collect information they wouldn’t be able to get legally. This is not true, and you will not be able to cite evidence that it is. > Google doesn’t get points for hiding opt-out behind the labyrinthine settings toggles The first search result for [google disable ad targeting] is a support page linking directly to that toggle. "Labyrinthine" is not the word I would use to describe this state of affairs.
    - websites420 5y ago
      >This is not true, and you will not be able to cite evidence that it is. https://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/googles_secret_nsa_alliance_the_terrifying_deals_between_silicon_valley_and_the_security_state/ https://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/googles_secret_nsa_alliance... https://surveillancevalley.com https://surveillancevalley.com (review: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/06/surveillance-valley-by-yasha-levine-review https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/06/surveillance-v...) >The first search result for [google disable ad targeting] is a support page linking directly to that toggle. "Labyrinthine" is not the word I would use to describe this state of affairs. Interesting, because the first result I get when I search those exact terms is a support article about how to make sure ad targeting is turned on: https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662856?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662856?co=GENIE.Platf... "Control the ads you see You can make the ads you see more useful or get ads that are specific to you. You'll see Google ads on: Google services, like Search or YouTube. Websites and apps that partner with Google to show ads."
      - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
        The review you cited of Surveillance Valley says that the book is overwrought and the evidence does not support its conclusions. The other article was long on implication but short on evidence. On that support page, scroll down. https://imgur.com/zKvpRyl https://imgur.com/zKvpRyl This part of the page is also highlighted in the quick answer: https://imgur.com/5WT23Ki https://imgur.com/5WT23Ki

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago

> obfuscating the real concern of targeted behavioral advertising behind an altogether different one. I don't think this is accurate. I think for a lot of people the privacy issue really is about concern that their behavioral information would be sold and disseminated, and that it is a genuine attempt to address these concerned that Google and other sites are responding to when they say they don't sell private information. Certainly the laws that politicians are crafting (e.g. GDPR and the California privacy law) center the privacy interpretation of people's concerns. If most people were more concerned about behavioral tracking and targeting, I believe that politicians would be passing laws to ban that instead. I agree that for many commenters on this site, the concern has morphed into a concern about behavioral tracking, but my recollection is that this has not always been the case. I don't think Google intends to address that concern with its statements about not selling private information. But, to address the behavioral tracking concern, Google does have a setting that disables ad personalization: https://adssettings.google.com/ https://adssettings.google.com/.

websites420 5y ago
> I think for a lot of people the privacy issue really is about concern that their behavioral information would be sold and disseminated. People are only concerned about the things they can easily conceptualize. Google certainly hasn’t done anything to make it easier to understand behavioral ad targeting, probably because they didn’t want to be in this business to start with (they only moved into it during the dot com crash when they were pressured to get a business model together) and because they maintain relationships with intelligence agencies, allowing those groups to collect information they wouldn’t be able to get legally. On several levels, Google benefits directly from hiding their real business model from the users whose behavioral information surplus they exploit. Just because people have been slow to catch on doesn’t mean their Incognito disclosure isn’t inaccurate and downright misleading. Google doesn’t get points for hiding opt-out behind the labyrinthine settings toggles. Until the entire data collection process is opt-in, they’re exploiting user ignorance.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
  > People are only concerned about the things they can easily conceptualize. My take is that people aren't concerned with things that don't pose significant risk to them. > and because they maintain relationships with intelligence agencies, allowing those groups to collect information they wouldn’t be able to get legally. This is not true, and you will not be able to cite evidence that it is. > Google doesn’t get points for hiding opt-out behind the labyrinthine settings toggles The first search result for [google disable ad targeting] is a support page linking directly to that toggle. "Labyrinthine" is not the word I would use to describe this state of affairs.
  - websites420 5y ago
    >This is not true, and you will not be able to cite evidence that it is. https://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/googles_secret_nsa_alliance_the_terrifying_deals_between_silicon_valley_and_the_security_state/ https://www.salon.com/2014/11/16/googles_secret_nsa_alliance... https://surveillancevalley.com https://surveillancevalley.com (review: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/06/surveillance-valley-by-yasha-levine-review https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/06/surveillance-v...) >The first search result for [google disable ad targeting] is a support page linking directly to that toggle. "Labyrinthine" is not the word I would use to describe this state of affairs. Interesting, because the first result I get when I search those exact terms is a support article about how to make sure ad targeting is turned on: https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662856?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662856?co=GENIE.Platf... "Control the ads you see You can make the ads you see more useful or get ads that are specific to you. You'll see Google ads on: Google services, like Search or YouTube. Websites and apps that partner with Google to show ads."
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
      The review you cited of Surveillance Valley says that the book is overwrought and the evidence does not support its conclusions. The other article was long on implication but short on evidence. On that support page, scroll down. https://imgur.com/zKvpRyl https://imgur.com/zKvpRyl This part of the page is also highlighted in the quick answer: https://imgur.com/5WT23Ki https://imgur.com/5WT23Ki