Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Online Behavior Watchers Getting Watched by Feds

by Leila Brillson on June 4, 2009 at 04:45 PM



What you search for, what you write in e-mails, and which keywords you use all tend to stick with you, especially if you use mega-search engines like Google. Picking up terms from your Internet "footprint," search engines then target you with ads -- a practice the Feds are beginning to investigate, according to Wired. Jessica Rich, the Assistant Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Privacy and Identity Protection branch, argued to Wired that targeted advertising isn't sufficiently transparent; users don't know that their searches are being traced.

At a conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy in DC last Wednesday, Google suggested that personalized ads are more effective, and more useful to users than blanketed, low-rent ads on, say, dating sites. Jane Horvath, Google's chief privacy officer, stated, "Google doesn't know everything about you." Only a searcher's basic data is kept, she explained, and is limited to noting an interest in music or sports, for instance.


Despite the fact that Google's ad algorithm is "opt out" (users can access their profile and refuse to be traced), the Federal Trade Commission is supporting a new bill introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher that would change such policies to require "opting in." As the FTC sees it, this would help the public become aware of how their information is being used. [From: Wired.com]

Tags: advertising, ftc, google, privacy, searchengines, top

Comments

1

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular