We will not combine DoubleClick cookie information with your
personally identifiable information unless we have your opt-in
consent.
Now:
Depending on your account settings, your activity on other
sites and apps may be associated with your personal information
in order to improve Google's services and the ads delivered by
Google.
To opt out, or "Pause" as Google is tellingly calling it, from the article:
To opt-out of Google’s identified tracking, visit the
Activity controls[1] on Google’s My Account page, and
uncheck the box next to “Include Chrome browsing history
and activity from websites and apps that use Google
services." You can also delete past activity from your
account.
In typical Google fashion, I can't tell if this will actually work or not. Some of the settings were in-between "On" and "Off". WTF did that mean? And then some of them seemed to imply that I had to accept a cookie to make them not work. Well I browse privately and use ad blocking, so does that mean they'll track me across a single session but not multiple sessions? (I ask because cookies work in a single session, but when I quit, they are deleted.) It also seemed to imply that the settings were only for that one browser on that one computer. I want it always off for everything. WTF? I don't think a typical user can understand the implications of these settings and make informed choices about using them.
There are more tracking settings here for "Ads based on your interests" and "Control Signed-In Ads" (Ads based on your interests on websites beyond google.com):
To be honest, google is far past the point where i'd trust them that when I "pause" tracking or delete history they actually do so and not just show me an interface which says so.
Hum, not exactly. With these new TOS, you can't assume that their will be a clear way to opt-out. ("it will depend on your account settings" is rather vague)
But examining the settings, it is not vague at all. Until such time as it actually is impossible we should probably actually consider the whole picture.