Google begins inserting user profile information into targeted ads today

Exactly one month ago, tech giant Google announced that it would update its terms of service to allow the company to insert your profile information into targeted advertisements. Today, it begins.

The terms of service update allows Google to automatically attach info from your profile—like photos, your name, and endorsements—to advertisements aggregated by their system. The result, of course, is your face, name, and other personal info popping up randomly on your network.

So, basically, the internet privacy apocalypse. And, what's more, Google announced the change via a blog post that insisted that "you're in control of what you share." Now, to be fair, at this point that doesn't seem technically true, given that they're about to start plastering our average mugs all over our beloved internets.

Who exactly will see our faces is even less clear, but that same blog post assures Google users that they're mining and disseminating data so that "your friends, family and others may see your Profile name and photo, and content like reviews you share or the ads you +1'd." Which is to say, potentially anyone, anywhere.

However, there is a way to stop it. Simply head over to your Google profile page and uncheck the box on the bottom of the page here. With that, you'll have opted out from Google's apparently nefarious advertising campaign.

That campaign, though, is a bold move by most accounts. This change to the company's terms of services comes just several months after users sued Facebook and won a $20 million settlement for using "likes" as ad endorsements. But given Google's level of communication on this issue, it seems like they're at least trying to avoid a similar kerfuffle.

If not, though, they probably have better lawyers than Facebook. And all that new ad money, too.

[Gizmodo]