'google' photo (c) 2012, SEO - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Google has announced it will be starting to use the faces and words of users in advertisements. Here’s an excerpt from a New York Times article about it:

When the new ad policy goes live on Nov. 11, Google will be able to show what the company calls shared endorsements on Google sites and across the Web, on the more than two million sites in Google’s display advertising network, which are viewed by an estimated one billion people. If a user follows a bakery on Google Plus or gives an album four stars on the Google Play music service, for instance, that person’s name, photo and endorsement could show up in ads for that bakery or album.

TechCrunch has just posted instructions on how to simply “opt-out” of that program:

  1. Click this link. (And, if necessary, log in to the Googles. I promise that’s a link to actual Google, not fake Google that steals your password and uses it to order handbags.)
  2. Uncheck the check box. Unless it’s already unchecked — in which case, leave it unchecked. Oddly, some people are saying they’re opted out by default; others say they find it checked: check = bad.
  3. Hit save!