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Google Adsense to launch Interest-based advertising. Update your Privacy Policy

Google Adsense Team announced the launch of interest-based advertising. This will be offered to a limited number of advertisers over the next few months as part of the beta before a full fledged launch in late 2009.

So, what is interest-based advertising

To develop interest categories, we’ll recognize the types of webpages users visit across the AdSense network. As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we’ll add them to the "sports enthusiast" interest category.

This will ensure that your visitor will see more relevant ads based on their past browsing habits.

Isn’t this spyware?

I’m no legal expert, but it does seem that Google is snooping at your data. This is possibly the reason why all Adsense publishers have been asked to update their privacy policies.

I’m pretty sure that most likely, you’re going to have anti-spyware software flagging Google Adsense cookies as spyware and prompting users to delete the same.

Update your Privacy Policy

About this time last year, you were asked to update your privacy policy due to Google Adsense. You’ve been asked to do the same this year as well.

According to this help page, your posted privacy policy should include the following information about Google and the DoubleClick DART cookie:

  • Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on your site.
  • Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to your users based on their visit to your sites and other sites on the Internet.
  • Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.

I’ve updated the Privacy Policy out here on Techtites in accordance with the requirement.

Remember to update the privacy policy on your site as well. The deadline for this is April 8, 2009.

One Comment

  1. It’s not just Google Adsense publishers who need to update their privacy policies; ALL online businesses and websites should update their privacy policies so that consumers understand where their personal information is going and how it’s going to be used. It is scary to think that over fifty percent of small business owners don’t even have a privacy policy on their website and nearly one-third simply cut and paste their privacy policies from somewhere else (TRUSTe study). Beyond being disconcerting for consumers, not having an accurate privacy policy is bad for businesses, as they can lose consumer trust and be held legally responsible for violating consumer privacy, as we saw with NebuAd. In order to help online business be compliant with privacy standards and enhance their brand trust and legitimacy, TRUSTe has developed a service that helps companies create simple and efficient privacy policies and practices. TRUSTe.org

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