Google’s global privacy counsel says he’s surprised by how few people choose to control what ads are steered their way — a tool which the Internet search giant launched, albeit with minimal fanfare, over the past year.
Paris-based global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer said Tuesday that the tool — which enables users to prevent targeted ads or alter the parameters used to steer ads their way — was visited by tens of thousands of people per week.
That’s a tiny fraction of the user base of the world’s largest search engine.
“I have to say I am puzzled about why more people don’t use more of the privacy controls,” said Fleischer, speaking at a round-table with journalists at a privacy conference in Israel.
“It’s a question that we ask ourselves. … Is it that people feel comfortable with the status quo? Possibly.”
He also said Google was hoping to get the word out about such privacy initiatives.
Google targets ads based on fields of interest it identifies in users, as evident in the “cookies” left behind on their Web browsers — virtual footprints showing which sites were visited. Thus it identifies preferences not with an individual or even IP address — which would presumably have greater value to advertisers — just the particular browser.
Under the relatively new “ads preference manager” a user can wipe out these cookies or alter the subject areas that were identified.
“You can say, ‘You’ve been showing me ads for sports — I actually want travel,'” Fleischer said.
The facility is reachable by searching for “ads preference manager,” by clicking on “ads by Google” buttons that appear along with certain targeted ads, and through a somewhat cumbersome process via Google’s home page.
Fleischer said that of those who do use the tool, only “one in seven make a change … which is a surprise to…