

See what Google knows about you - nhoss2
http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/

======
epaga
Google is really leading the pack when it comes to their transparency
regarding user data. This plus the Google Dashboard means basically anything
Google knows about me is shown at one glance and I can opt out at the click of
a button.

They need to link to these preferences from the Dashboard (but I bet they're
scared out of their minds that everyone will opt out...)

------
gst
"Your categories: You have opted out of Google's interest-based advertising.
No interest categories are associated with your browser."

To opt-out just go here:
<http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/intl/en/plugin/>

~~~
danielharan
I'm curious. Why do you want ads shown to you NOT be targeted?

Unless you're using adblock, you should be seeing a whole bunch of crappy ads
for fat-loss solutions, IQ tests, "Which way is this mannequin turning?",
etc...

(Disclaimer: I co-founded a company now helping companies target ads. People
opting out won't harm me economically, but I'm really trying to understand
people's objections).

~~~
kenjackson
_I'm curious. Why do you want ads shown to you NOT be targeted?_

I want unsolicited ads to not be targeted for several reasons:

1) I don't want people to necessarily infer my interests/character based on
ads they see when I'm just browsing the web. "Dude, why do you have porn ads
all the time when you browse the web?"

2) I don't need to be sold to on a constant basis. Unless I'm in the market
for something, I generally would prefer to not be sold to. Selling me
something I'm sure to not care about, e.g., IQ tests, are almost the same as
no ads. Showing me well-targeted ads are more likely to prove to be a
distraction.

3) Privacy. I'd really prefer no one to have information that associates my
account with specific information. It's hard to avoid today, but to the extent
that I can reduce it, I will.

With that said, solicited ads are fine. If I do a search, x% of the time I'm
looking for a product to purchase. I don't mind it then. Many of the websites
I read, e.g., Engadget, are almost ad sites in that the content is generally
about product for me to buy or use. And Android ads on Engadget are fine.
They're not specifically targeted to me, but the demographic of people reading
Engadget.

~~~
reso
1) Valid 2) You can't opt out of the ads. You're going to see them whether you
want to or not. 3) You're opting out of the targeting, not the collection of
your data. They will still have your data even if they don't use it for ad
targeting.

Every now and then I see a perfectly targeted ad. like the other day I saw one
for a chamber music concert a bus ride away. I saw an awesome concert and the
venue got an extra sale. If that had been a random IQ test ad, I would have
missed an awesome experience.

TL;DR targeting is better for everyone.

~~~
kenjackson
Regarding (2) my point was that non-targeted ads are almost the same as the ad
not being there. My brain doesn't even process the "shoot the monkey" ad
anymore.

Re (3), that sucks. If they're collecting and associating data with your
account, but just not displaying the ads, I think that's a problem. Opting out
should opt you out of associating data with your account.

------
hsmyers
I have no problem with targeted ads excepting one. Many of the categories have
no product! Lots of software related thingys, but nothing I can look at :(
Many of the magazines that I still subscribe to at least have adds that allow
me to fantasize about what I could do if I had but the funds...

------
lallysingh
This is my full list, and none of it is surprising. I'm just glad they don't
assume I'm older :-)

    
    
      Arts & Entertainment - Movies - Science Fiction & Fantasy Films
      Computers & Electronics 
      Computers & Electronics - Hardware - ... - Chips & Processors
      Computers & Electronics - Hardware - ... - Sound & Video Cards
      Computers & Electronics - Hardware - Laptops 
      Computers & Electronics - Programming 
      Computers & Electronics - Software - Operating Systems - Linux & Unix
      Internet & Telecom - Web Services - Web Hosting & Domain Registration
      Jobs & Education - Education - Vocational & Continuing Education 
      Online Communities - Social Networks 
      Demographics - Age - 25-34
      Demographics - Gender - Male
     

Honestly I don't know why this level is surprising. I think as the world gets
more connected, the community is gonna get a little smaller (in feel, at
least), and we're going to become less anonymous. If the bad guys get less
anonymous too, and nobody pretends that this stuff is sufficient to definitely
identify me, I don't see a problem. Yup, big "ifs."

~~~
bad_user
I'm a 29 years old male, but according to Google I'm a 18-25 years old female.

Oops.

~~~
jturn
Maybe you should lay off the Victoria Secret searches ;-)

If you don't mind me asking, what were your categories? I am curious why they
inferred female vs male.

~~~
bad_user

         Arts & Entertainment - TV & Video - Online Video
         Arts & Entertainment - TV & Video - TV Shows & Programs
         Arts & Entertainment - TV & Video - TV Shows & Programs - TV Comedies
         Computers & Electronics
         Computers & Electronics - Programming
         Computers & Electronics - Programming - C & C++
         Computers & Electronics - Programming - Java
         Computers & Electronics - Software - Internet Software
         Internet & Telecom - Email & Messaging
         Reference - General Reference - Time & Calendars
    

Also, there was something about articles related to social stuff / basic
rights, but I can't see it anymore (weird).

So yeah, maybe it is because I used to watch Friends, Desperate Housewives and
Sex and the City :D

I know, I know, especially that last one; I got in the habit because of my
wife and for some weird reason, I began liking that show.

~~~
jturn
I feel for you. My wife watches "Real Housewives" series and I now know way
too much about those people. :-)

------
spullara
You can also modify Yahoo!'s information on your account as well:

<http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/opt_out/targeting/>

------
nvictor
"Computers & Electronics - Programming - Java"

Blasphemy!

Python for ever!

------
ScottWhigham
I use Noscript and have marked doubleclick as "Untrusted". It just shows "You
cannot view or edit interests when you do not have an 'id' cookie. Opt-in to
get a cookie."

~~~
koopajah
Yeah, the point is to have a specific cookie, in which it is written you do
not want to be tracked.

------
Shenglong
This is pretty cool, but it thinks I've quite a bit older than I am. :)

I don't think there's anything wrong with targeted ads - I for one am not
opting out!

~~~
Roboprog
Funny, they erred on my age the other way. Did it also peg you as "25 - 34"? I
wonder if this is some sort of default.

Otherwise, it seems to have accurately tracked what I view in Chrome on this
particular computer / boot partition at home. Would not expect it to track
stuff at work or when booting to Windows to watch Netflix.

~~~
Shenglong
Yes it did. I don't know if that's default, or if it's because most of my
relevant content surrounds tech, financials, and intellectual property though.
I'll check Chrome when I get home - it might give a better view of who I am.

------
girl25haXe
Me: Male from 35 to 44, no other information:

That's not correct, I am a girl of 25.

~~~
divtxt
Me: Male, 65+

I'm in my late 30s.

They have my interests as Business News & Finance (correct), but no Tech
(incorrect), so perhaps the ad system is guessing age & gender from interests?

------
bsphil
"No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far."

Google has nothing on me, apparently.

~~~
clobber
At the bottom they state "Your ads preferences only apply in this browser on
this computer. They are reset if you delete your browser's cookies."

You probably cleared your cookies already or are using a browser you don't
normally use. I'm glad this is cookie based and not tied into the actual
logged in Google account.

------
alexholehouse
On my original look at this, Google had one of my interests as hockey. I've
never shown any interest in the sport, nor have any of my friends, so I was
confused. Upon reloading the page, "Hockey" was gone, although I had taken a
screenshot before, and noticed a number of other preference had been removed,
leaving a much better fit of my activities.

Prior to my refresh I had video streamining, photo sharing, and online video
as my "interests" despite the fact I don't tend to use my computer for these
kinds of things. These are obviously things I _might_ be interested in (25-34
male demograph), but am not particularly. I wonder why they would appear and
disappear like this? How often are the preferences updated (hourly? daily?
monthly?)

~~~
danielharan
Very strange. Do you share your computer with others?

The change is probably due to caching. If your computer isn't shared, I'd
blame Google's classification which isn't always very accurate. Best example:
a page of photos of pole dancers was classified as "winter sports" because the
secondary navigation linked to relevant content...

~~~
alexholehouse
Indeed - no, I'm the sole user of the computer, it just seems odd that so many
disappeared, I'd almost not believe it if I hadn't taken a screenshot!

Considering Google's expertise with data you'd think they'd have enough NLP
know-how to avoid errors like the one you describe - interesting though.

~~~
danielharan
Probably a lack of motivation rather than ability. Also, their current algo is
probably "good enough" for most cases.

~~~
alexholehouse
Yeah - I guess when "good enough" gets you around $25 billion in revenue, it's
probably good enough for now...

------
flatline
Fascinating - it got my gender right and age right but I have no clue where it
got the categories from - books and web development are probably the only two
things that are even in the ballpark. "Online Goodies"? - no clue!

    
    
      Arts & Entertainment - Music & Audio - ... - Song Lyrics & Tabs
      Books & Literature
      Internet & Telecom - Web Services - Web Design & Development
      Jobs & Education - Education
      Law & Government
      Online Communities - Online Goodies
      Online Communities - Online Goodies - Skins Themes & Wallpapers
      Demographics - Age - 25-34
      Demographics - Gender - Male

------
nhoss2
If anyone is interested, I found this existed from a daily newsletter I
subscribed to - <http://dlewis.net/nik/>

Sure the things on the list aren't that bad, but if google can get that much
just from you browsing the web they could probably get a lot more. And yeah
they are transparent by showing what they know about you and it's one click to
opt-out but how would someone even find that page in the first place.

------
slowpoke
Why use a cookie if you could finally make use of the Do-No-Track header (or
however it was called)?

Granted, that's a feature only found in newer browsers, but it could help
speed up the adoption of that header.

Anyways, I will continue to just block everything that remotely looks like
Google (besides the API, that is. It's disconcerting to see how many websites
rely on it to function properly).

------
igorgue
Interest are accurate, but they don't have my age, which is very weird knowing
I have a public Google profile (Google+ profile now).

------
joshfinnie
With this information, I have to wonder how I ever get mis-appropriate ads on
sites (using adsense) these days? There have been some far misses (feminine
products) that should easily be eliminated with the information on this page.

Wonder if adverstisers don't use this option?

------
antonioe
Hopefully this will reduce the remarketing ads I keep seeing(doubtful). I
click 1 link on HN and then usually it's a YC company fills up all the ad
units on every page.

Ahh at least it's better then the get rich quick stuff or the 1-Secret Diet
Trick ads on Facebook.

------
vapour
very cool

I too have the default appearing 25-34 age but my interests are spot on.

------
mtogo
Ghostery + AdBlock, no information about me.

~~~
mikle
Modified host file, no need to install software and it's multi-browser. No
information about me.

~~~
unicornporn
tell me more about your hosts file.

~~~
mikle
Here is the one I use:

<http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/>

I had to rename it to see the site the OP linked, and it had no preference nor
any personal info. I'll try it on my work computer on which I don't have
neither a hosts file or an adblock when I'll get there.

~~~
unicornporn
thank you too!

------
BenSS
There were some funny choices in mine. Apparently I'm twice my age, love race
cars, sports, and reptiles. All wrong.

------
ed2417
Nice to see I at least view the ads of a much younger person as they are 35
years off on my demographics.

------
lyime
This is refreshing to see in some ways. I hope Google becomes even better at
targeting.

------
rue
“Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at
googleads.g.doubleclick.net.”

------
spydum
Not sure if this is cool, or creepy. Nice that you can opt-out right there
though.

~~~
koopajah
I was wondering this morning why I had a facebook ad about a music band that I
started listening a few weeks ago ONLY at work and ONLY on grooveshark. The
band is not that famous to appear randomly in my facebook account so I wonder
if this can be linked!

You can also find : <http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp>

~~~
jamesteow
Well if you check Facebook at work and go to Grooveshark, they can track you.
I think they might even be able to gather some info if you logged out of
Facebook but I'm only partially sure of that.

------
gulbrandr
hmm it does not work for me: <http://i.imgur.com/SDvIl.png>

And my browser's cookies are _not_ disabled.

~~~
danielharan
Do you have AdBlock installed?

~~~
gulbrandr
yes. Do you think it is because of adblock?

------
codabrink
This always results in a redirect loop for me..

------
zobzu
have to download a plugin to opt out wtf? they never hear of do-not-track?

------
danso
Keep in mind that it's based on your current browser's cookies...I checked it
at work and it says things like "Fiscal Policy News" and "Colleges and
Universities" are among my interests...on my laptop, which I brought to work
today, it's "Social Networks", "Soccer" and "Clubs & Nightlife"

------
hackermom
My Glimmerblocker proxy tells me that Google's info about me can be summed up
in a 1 by 1 pixel transparent image. This makes me happy.

------
mcormier
It's transparent but definitely not user friendly. When you opt out it uses a
cookie so if your cookies get deleted you need to opt out again. Also, since
opting out uses a cookie you must opt out on every browser on every machine
you use. Definitely not convenient.

~~~
extension
How else could it be done?

~~~
mcormier
On the server side. Associated with your account.

~~~
jonknee
With what account? Google serves on a ton of third party sites (and not just
through AdSense, DoubleClick is _huge_ ). And that would require you to sign
in to Google before you are opted-out, regardless if you were using Google or
not. I use an plugin provided by Google to do the same thing, no worries about
a cookie disappearing.

<http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/intl/en/plugin/>

