All of a sudden, Yahoo and Google want to make it easy for you to opt out of their ad targeting on both their sites and across the Web. Yahoo announced a new one-click opt-out policy today, and Google made it possible to opt out of both Google and Doubleclick ad targeting with one click yesterday.
At least Yahoo was honest enough to come out and say that the new policy was a direct response to Congressional scrutiny over the intrusiveness of online advertising and behavioral targeting. Google’s announcement was buried in a blog post about Doubleclick cookies.
The truth is that both Yahoo and Google would rather take symbolic action themselves than be forced to take a more draconian one later. Who’s going to bother to opt out of ad targeting? Some people will, but the vast majority of people probably won’t. What would really mess up Yahoo’s and Google’s advertising ROIs is if Congress mandated that ad-targeting (via cookies) be opt-in. They’d surely get even fewer people opting in for those cookies than they will now get opting out. I know I’m too lazy to do either.
But if you don’t want those cookies, you can decline Yahoo’s here and Google’s here
(Flickr photo by scubadive67).
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yeah it’s smart. the fact is that people aren’t really going to go out of their way and take the time to opt out of ads. and the fact is that the ads don’t pop out at you like on other sites. just gives the illusion that the user has the power when in the end they still do! muhaha
Man, those cookies again? You guys are killing me!
What happens to those who block ads, is there any way to go around them? they might be interested if it was a targeted ad.
…. take symbolic action themselves than be forced to take a more draconian one later. Who’s going to bother to opt out of ad targeting?
Bingo! Great points.
I find ad targeting convenient as at least if I have to see ads they are somewhat relevant to my likes/ dislikes. If you opt out of a cookie, and given the importance of tracking within the space, I am certain they have prepared an alternate method to uniquely identify a visitor.
Is it the ads or the cookies that are supposedly the problem? I must be missing something, but if a site does something I don’t like I can already opt out of ever going there again.
Sometimes I wonder if there’s a group of people just living to be outraged about something inconsequential. As I type this, there’s for sure a real, live slave auction going on somewhere in the world, and some long-hair Stallman type is all upset about some browser cookies.
great post, I agree completely
It is about the cookies really. Rather than having a unique cookie which connects all your surfing behavior over all the sites that use Yahoo or Google ads, now you get a generic cookie that says “stop watching me”. So ideally you do not opt out of targeted advertising (that, too) but really you opt out of their extensive profiling and tracking.
On the other note: There is absolutely no sense in saying there is no point in fixing smaller problems as long as there are bigger ones. Unless you are the person fighting slavery everyday, that is.
I should opt to not go to any site that displays Google ads? Even if I never went there again, the cookie would still be tracking my behaviour.
Google’s opt-out isn’t working. And from the error it seems they want to put yet another (trackable) cookie. Doesn’t make any sense.
It makes plenty of sense. How else do you expect them to know that you want to opt-out? They have to store your preference somewhere…
banner ad just keeps clicking away all by its self never leaving the webpage. very irritating, only on explr browser not mozilla. what gives.
I personally like the targeting – if I’m going to have ads – at least target them to me.
Amen Neil !!
I’ve been waiting for the US Government to catch up to the web. um…this isn’t it. Useless piece of legislation.
At least Yahoo was honest enough to come out and say that the new policy was a direct response to Congressional scrutiny over the intrusiveness of online advertising and behavioral targeting. Google’s announcement was buried in a blog post about Doubleclick cookies.
That Sounds Good !!
Opting out usually requires another cookie — the cookie they recognize to say “hey, no thanks”.
People don’t seem to recognize this. “But they are setting an extra tracking cookie!” No, they’re setting your preference. *head-smack*
Erick, this is common sense on Google’s part, but you don’t seem to be satisfied. You’re right thinking people won’t bother opting in OR out. They just don’t care; so where’s the problem?
Can somebody explain to me how Google’s image shifted from everyone’s sweetheart to monster? Actually, that’s ok, they don’t have to have it all. But if someone doesn’t like what Google is becoming, they should stop using their services. There are alternatives. Don’t expect other people to jump ship for you to feel more secure.
Post title is misleading. It’s ad *targeting* that G and Y let you opt out of. To opt out of the ads themselves, you have to use other methods (e.g., don’t visit their sites).
Google opt out isn’t working for me either.
Google in ff2:
DoubleClick DART cookie opt-out error
An error occurred assigning the opt-out cookie. Possible causes include manually rejecting the opt-out cookie when it is assigned or that your web browser is configured to reject cookies automatically. Check your browser’s configuration settings, and please try again. Note: you will get this error message if your browser does not support cookies.
Read the error message. Does it apply to you? Do you have your browser set to reject cookies? Or maybe it uses JavaScript (I don’t know this) and you have that shut off? If they can’t set the opt-out cookie, you can’t opt-out. Simple as that.
Google opt out isn’t working for me either.
It’s ok.
The picture of the cookies just made me really hungry.
I”m not opting out as long as it’s targeted.
Now that everybody can opt out of ads at Yahoo without installing an ad blocker, I WANT AD-FREE TECHCRUNCH!
Free Yahoo.
Free TechCrunch.
Dump the ads to Gillmor.
@Jerry Ying if TechCrunch will be add free then how they will survive ? we all are supposed to get something if we are sharing something for free !! Like all the news and updates and TechCrunch are free and Advertisement make it possible
The net needs to find a way to ween itself off of the teet of the advertisers.
The problem is that it’s so difficult – if there was a way, TV and radio would have found it by now.
But, the net is a different medium and we should explore ways of finding an alternative to the advert.
If we don’t, advertising and spamming will continue to slowly rot the worth out of the net until it becomes as worthless as traditional TV is (look at the length of an actual tv show compared to its timeslot in the schedule… notice how adverts are encroaching on 50% of airtime!)
@Ankit: TechCrunch is worth 80M. That should be enough to pay TechCrunch wages for some decades. Remember, it pays just $5 per article.
Yes, outlaw all ads… that’ll be great!
Except for that little part about no one getting paid for their work anymore. Hmm.
Anyway, you can’t opt-out of their ads (without an external tool like Adblock or NoScript), you can only opt-out of their ad tracking cookie.
Dusty, please re-read the headline of this article.
And keep in mind: TechCrunch always tells the truth, and nothing but the truth, and never comes up with catchy headlines that are not true. They don’t charge us: we get what we pay for!
Techcrunch loads approximately a squillion times faster if you block the ads.
and for those that clear out cookies at the end of every session, they’ll be forced to constantly say no to the targetted ads every time they kick up a new session.
Bothersome for those who wish to keep some privacy to the point where many will simply accept the targetted ads after having their resistance worn down in a chinese water torture-esk manner.
Opt in should be the *only* option, otherwise it’s just a symbolic gesture and the ad men get their way.
Also, for those claiming “we don’t go to google or yahoo” it’s a little difficult considering how many of the decent sites on the net make use of google and yahoo ad networks – and don’t get me started on the scary numbers of apps that try to bundle the google toolbar with them and use every trick they can to get you to install it!
Also, how would this affect the firefox data mining project that was mentioned a few months back but everyone has gone quiet about?
If you don’t want to use Google, even on third-party sites, use something like Adblock Plus or NoScript. Then you have to opt-in to running JavaScript on any sites. You can just feel free to allow everyone except Google and Yahoo if you want. That *will* get rid of the tracking.
Adblock opt out has been working for me for years
http://adblockplus.org/en/
I really wonder if there is someone left that doesn’t want ads and didn’t install any adblocking software yet.
Same here. I use Adblock Plus and NoScript. It works like a charm.
From Google’s page:
“If you delete this opt-out cookie, you will have to opt out again. ”
5,000 PhD’s and they give us this answer
How else do you expect them to know that you want to opt-out? They have to store your preference somewhere…
There is absolutely no sense in saying there is no point in fixing smaller problems as long as there are bigger ones. Unless you are the person fighting slavery everyday, that is.
If people don’t bother opting then that’s another issue at least the option is there. Also targeted advertising sounds good to me but opting out I think is even better.
If I have to view ads, yeah I’d prefer that they be targeted. Sure Google knows everything I do on teh interwebz, maybe they’ll do some good with that info.
“# If you delete this opt-out cookie, you will have to opt out again. ”
Yeah real effective.
How else do you expect them to know that you want to opt-out? They have to store your preference somewhere…
They can make it part of the Google Toolbar settings apart from Opt in cookies. In such cases your setting stays available to you even after you delete cookies. With Google toolbar even if you upgrade your machine or clean up temp files etc. If you are logged in to the toolbar it should read your settings again.
Interesting. Will be interesting to see what the effect on earnings is long term. If any.
the google opt out seems to be tricky, it is not very easy to find the opt out button. Yahoo had a very big OPT out button. It was very difficult to find that link on google. Probably they want it to be difficult so that people dont opt out.
Looks like goog is following msft tactics now. Just like msft provided opt out of desktop search but it was very difficult to really find that option to opt out.
If Google really cared, the opt-out cookie would determine if the Google search page (top right hand corner) said “You are currently opted out of targeted ads” OR “Click Here to opt out of targeted ads” and “Click here to get Adblock Plus and opt out of ALL ads”
That’s if they cared.
Targeted ads aren’t going to kill my internet adventures. Google and Yahoo have to make money somehow when they are offering things for free.
Every time you format your machine or delete Temp internet files etc you will have to remember to opt out again. So effectively even if they loose some people now, they will regain all the users in matter of months. If they really want to DO this.. they can make it part of their respective Tool Bars. In Google toolbar one can Login and store settings. This could be one of the settings.
Its sucks that I have to opt out … but thanks for the links to do it!
I love this.
Am happy i found this.
I love this.
In Google toolbar one can Login and store settings. This could be one of the settings.
Best way to opt out is download a list of know advertisers and use your host file to disable them. End of ads and unwanted cookies. Run across a new one well reverse dns them and add them also. It’s faster and frees resources on your pc since it don’t have to look for a specific script or opt out cookie ( who knows what else they put in those cookies?) An idea for opt out cookie that might work is mandate that advertisers on the internet have to all use the same cookie that way end user could use one cookie for all. I am not against advertising on the internet i just don’t like it shoved in my face. If i see something that interests me in a LEGITIMATE ad ill research it myself. As for me being opt in by internet default WRONG! ill block em in my host file. Done Deal!
I think, If we don’t, advertising and spamming will continue to slowly rot the worth out of the net until it becomes as worthless as traditional TV is (look at the length of an actual tv show compared to its timeslot in the schedule…
i dont think its necessary it wont make that much of a difference
How else do you expect them to know that you want to opt-out? They have to store your preference somewhere…
I was already convinced, but that was really cool. Thanks for the article, very helpful.