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Google ToS Change Means Your Photo Could Go In Ads

Posted by timothy on from the ok-ok-I-like-nutella-and-coffee dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google [on Friday] announced an upcoming change to its terms of service that will let the company add users' names and photos to certain parts of its advertising as of November 11. Make no mistake: this is a direct attack against Facebook. One of the few advantages of Google+ is that it features no ads. To be perfectly clear, Google isn't changing that. Google+ will still have a clean interface, at least for the foreseeable future. Instead, Google is tying Google+ into yet another one of its properties, and arguably its most important one: Google Ads."

9 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Opt in? by Peter+H.S. · · Score: 3, Informative

    As I read the ToS, this is an opt in. So if you for some reason want to show your google+ friends, followers, or the world that you "+1" something, your can turn this feature on.

    1. Re:Opt in? by Nerdfest · · Score: 3, Informative

      They've effectively been doing it already with the play store. You can see if any of the people in your circles have added a +1 to any of the apps. It's actually pretty handy.

    2. Re:Opt in? by Peter+H.S. · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well, I just looked at my google+ account: "Shared Endorsement" is "off" on my account, even though I accepted the new ToS. The ToS I received stated it was something I could enable if I wished.
      Doesn't seem evil to me.

    3. Re:Opt in? by rubycodez · · Score: 3, Informative

      that just means you disabled that setting, likely when you joined google+. that doesn't change the fact that the default is for it to be on. look it up.

      http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57607100-93/google-wants-to-sell-more-ads-using-your-name-and-profile/

    4. Re:Opt in? by rubycodez · · Score: 5, Informative

      wrong. if your check box is off that merely means you disabled it prior to this announcement, probably when you joined, but look it up, FACT the default has always been for that setting to be ON when you joined gooogle+. it is ON by default..

      http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57607100-93/google-wants-to-sell-more-ads-using-your-name-and-profile/

      google: do evil

    5. Re:Opt in? by BradMajors · · Score: 5, Informative

      You can only partially opt-out. Google is intending to use your name and picture without your consent:

        "This setting only applies to use in ads, and doesn't change whether your Profile name or photo may be used in other places such as Google Play,"

  2. The big differences... by OpenYourEyes · · Score: 5, Informative

    It seems like there are three big differences between how Google is handling this and how Facebook handled this:

    1. Google is blasting the notice pretty visibly all over the place. Open a tab and you can't help but see info about it. It is in your notifications. They are making it loud and clear that this is going to happen, and being pretty transparent about what it means.
    2. Google is making it easy to opt out. If you opted out of some things, or if you're in an apps domain, you're already opted out. If not, there are prominent links telling you how to opt out of this.
    3. This is only happening for public activities. You can argue if a +1 or a review should be public or if it violates Google's own concept of circles, but they're making it clear this won't apply to things you share privately.

    I may have issues with how they're forcing some activities to be public only, but I can't fault them for trying to make it very clear what is public, what is private, and how they intend to respect the difference between the two.

  3. Re:Attack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    How is this an attack against Facebook? Are they competing for the title of "most hated social network"?

    Who the hell uses Google+? They keep annoying me to use it and I can't find a single use for it.

  4. Re:Attack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    you can use grease monkey to block that annoying google popup trying to force you to open a google+ account. here is one http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/153375