Please Sign This Petition to Limit Google’s Abuse of Your Internet Privacy

Google has been highly critical of the US government’s monitoring of Internet activity, a practice that is only intended to protect us against Al Qaeda’s secretive communications. Regardless of whether you feel the governments of western nations have taken their monitoring too far, I am deeply alarmed by the apathy that people have expressed toward the far more invasive and manipulative monitoring of your Internet activity that Google and other advertising networks regularly engage in for the sole purpose of making a profit.
While every business has the right to seek reward for its services, any advertising company that tracks user behavior and structures its technologies so as to manipulate consumer interest and consent has no business telling governments what they should or should not be doing on behalf of citizen privacy.
Google has in fact said in court that its users have “no legitimate expectation of privacy”. If that is the case, then there are no limits to what Google could do as it monitors your every move and engages with you through technologies that are designed to enhance its profits.
Google’s oversight of these technologies has been called into question by consumer advocates, business rivals, and government agencies. It is no secret that they have paid various fines for violating individuals’ privacy, and yet Google continues to develop and deploy technologies that are designed to manipulate and influence consumer interest and behavior.
Google is not an elected government. They are answerable to no one for their behavior if we the consumers they seek to manipulate do not stand up and demand that our governments place sufficient barriers to these abuses in their ways. You can fully expect every advertising network to oppose this petition.
The surveillance state you fear is not the one coming out of government efforts to fight Al Qaeda, whose insane war has spread to nearly 30 countries around the world. The surveillance state you fear is the one that the advertising networks have created through their invasive technologies and 24/7 monitoring of consumer Internet activity.
You have no privacy on the Internet. You never had any privacy on the Internet. If you seriously want privacy on the Internet then now is the time to deal with the most effective threat to your hoped-for privacy: stand up and demand that your government take action to restrict and monitor the abusive activities of these advertising networks.
Please visit this link and sign the petition: http://wh.gov/l8KVK
Even if you do NOT sign the petition, please share the link with your friends and followers. This is too important an issue to allow companies like Google to bury it beneath a wave of misdirecting propaganda.
In case that link doesn’t work, try this one: WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: propose a law limiting the amount of private consumer information that companies collect and use on the Internet.


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Google Remarketing Ads Found To Violate Canadian Privacy Law; To Revamp Ad Review System By June

Google has agreed to several concessions after an investigation by Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner found Google in violation of Canada’s privacy rights for the use of sensitive health history in remarketing campaigns.
The investigation began last January, when a man complained that his personal health history was being used for ad targeting purposes.  After searching for and visiting sites related to medical devices for sleep apnea, he was retargeted with display ads for those devices when he browsed the web.
The Commissioner’s office has agreed with the man that Google unlawfully used sensitive health information for ad targeting purposes. It is inappropriate for this type of information to be used in online behavioural advertising,” says Interim Privacy Commissioner Chantal Bernier. Adding, “As Canadians spend more and more time online, they create a digital trail that can reveal a great deal about a person.  Organizations such as Google must ensure privacy rights are respected in this complex environment.”
Two years ago the Office of the Privacy Commissioner issued guidelines around online behavioral advertising (OBA) as it relates to the Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Ad targeting based on health, financial information or other interests that are considered “sensitive” is prohibited.
Google’s own privacy policy states it “will not associate sensitive interest categories with your cookie (such as those based on race, religion, sexual orientation, health, or sensitive financial categories) and will not use these categories when showing you interest-based ads”.
In its response to the Commissioner’s office during the inquiry Google blamed advertisers for not following the policies,

Google stated that remarketing criteria and user lists are determined by the advertiser directly. Google requires all advertisers using this platform to agree to specific policies, which prohibit all forms of interest based advertising involving sensitive categories, including the use of user lists based on “health or medical information”.  According to Google, it is up to each remarketer to determine the application of Google’s policies to any proposed remarketing. Google indicated that, despite its policies and guidance, certain advertisers or third party buyers can use remarketing products in error.
When an advertiser uses Google’s system to set up remarketing, there is a reminder to advertisers: “review the remarketing program policy to find out what you need to include in your site’s privacy policy, and which sensitive categories of sites can’t use this feature” (with a link to the policy provided).

Google also provided detailed information on how it monitors ads and advertisers to prevent abuses. Canada’s privacy office found the monitoring tools “were not scalable and had demonstrable shortcomings,” and made recommendations for developing a “more formalized and rigorous system for reviewing advertisements and addressing instances of non-compliance.”
As a result, Google said it will upgrade its automated review systems by June 2014.
Additionally, Google says it has rejected all active retargeting campaigns involving CPAP devices and has increased searches of active retargeting campaigns potentially related to sensitive interest categories.
The move will likely impact a wide swath of advertisers running retargeting campaigns. Steve Cameron of Advent Communications in the UK discovered that Google deactivated remarketing lists for a cancer facility client in which members of the lists were located in Canada as a result of the ruling.
It remains unclear if Google will adopt this new level of stringency across the board when it revamps its automated ad review platform.
Meanwhile, Canada isn’t stopping with Google. Interim Privacy Commissioner Chantal Bernier added in a statement, “We also have concerns about whether other advertising networks are complying with Canadian privacy law.  We will be contacting various advertising stakeholders in the near future to share these investigation results and remind them of their privacy obligations.”
Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google | Google: AdWords | Google: Legal | Google: Privacy | Legal | Legal: Privacy | Top News About The Author: Ginny Marvin writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting. Beyond Search Engine Land, Ginny provides search marketing and demand generation advice for ecommerce companies. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin. See more articles by Ginny MarvinConnect with the author via: Email | Twitter
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