Google requires me to include a privacy policy on my website. Here is what the Adsense terms of agreement say:
You must have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy that clearly discloses that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users’ browser, or using web beacons to collect information, in the course of ads being served on your website. Your privacy policy should also include information about user options for cookie management.
In April 2009. Google switched to interest-based advertising. Here is a quote from the email I received from Google:
Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to show ads based on a user’s previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests (e.g. “sports enthusiast”). To develop interest categories, we will recognize the types of web pages users visit throughout the Google content network. As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we will add them to the “sports enthusiast” interest category.
Google suggested Adsense members use the following quote from the Network Advertising Initiative website (quote as of April 22, 2009):
I use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit my website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.
I don’t know too much about the ins and outs of cookie management, but if you’re running Mozilla Firefox, you can go to Tools–Options–Privacy and block cookies. That may have a bad effect on your ability to experience the Internet. Or at least, that’s the message that usually comes up. May be a scare tactic.
A better option is to download a free software like AdAware and clean up your computer from time to time.
