Internet

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The Fine Print that Allows Google to Use Your Name in Ads

Google Endorsement adLast week, Google followed Facebook’s lead to announce that it was changing its terms of service so it could use your name and photo potentially in future endorsement ads for products that you have liked or written about. And they are doing so without paying you or getting your explicit permission in each instance.

Here, in part, is that announcement:

How your Profile Name and Photo May Appear
(including in reviews and advertising)

On Google, you’re in control of what you share. This update to our Terms of Service doesn’t change in any way who you’ve shared things with in the past or your ability to control who you want to share things with in the future.

… your friends might see that you rated an album 4 stars on the band’s Google Play page. And the +1 you gave your favorite local bakery could be included in an ad that the bakery runs through Google. We call these recommendations shared endorsements and you can learn more about them here.

When it comes to shared endorsements in ads, you can control the use of your Profile name and photo via the Shared Endorsements setting. If you turn the setting to “off,” your Profile name and photo will not show up on that ad for your favorite bakery or any other ads. This setting only applies to use in ads, and doesn’t change whether your Profile name or photo may be used in other places such as Google Play.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Here is more detail about “shared endorsement” ads and how to set your preferences.

Google ads

Oddly, the circled text says to click the box below if you want to prevent your name and photo from being used, but the text next to the box says the exact opposite. By clicking it, you are allowing Google to use your words and pictures in ads.

This may be a matter of timing, since the new policy does not go into effect until November 11, so in the meantime, it is “opt-in.” News reports, however, indicate that once the change is in effect the only way to prevent your likeness from being used is to opt-out.

And in the actual language of their new terms of service statement, it clearly says “you can choose your settings so your name and photo do not appear in ads.”

The trouble with all this is that most people either won’t know that this new advertising policy exists, or won’t be able to find the spot to turn it off.

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Questioning Carbonite’s “Unlimited” Backup Service Claims

Over the years, cell, long distance, and cable companies have advertised “unlimited” services, but a close reading of the fine print almost always reveals that the services are not truly unlimited.

Last year, in the UK, ASA, the private organization that enforces a voluntary advertising code, came down hard on Carbonite — the online file backup service that sends a copy of the files from your home computer up to the “cloud” for safekeeping.

In both the US and UK, Carbonite advertised “unlimited” backup service for an annual service fee:

Buried in their UK website was an unexpected catch:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Bandwidth Throttling: Yes (35GB, 200GB)

Huh? Even buried deeper in the site in a blog post was an explanation:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Carbonite Home allocates more bandwidth to users doing a typical initial backup of less than 35GB, and less to users after their backup exceeds 200GB. Once your initial backup is complete, updates to your backup usually take only a few minutes each day.

This bandwidth policy has three tiers. Users performing a smaller backup will usually see faster upload speeds than users with larger backups. However, depending on your Internet connection, your computer’s configuration, other Internet-enabled software you may be running, and how often you use your computer, actual backup speeds may vary. The current maximum upload speeds are as follows:

— The first 35GB of data can achieve upload speeds of up to 2 mbps (megabits per second).
— Between 35GB and 200GB of data, upload speeds can reach up to 512 kbps (kilobits per second).
— At 200GB or more of data, upload speeds are limited to around 100 kbps (kilobits per second).

In plain English, just like some cell companies that slow down your connection when you use more than a certain allotment of data, so does Carbonite. They throttle your upload connection down to a crawl when you are uploading a lot of files. The result is that while you think you have backed up all your files, it may take weeks to actually do so, if you have a large hard drive.

The advertising watchdog in the UK felt this limitation was not made clear to consumers who signed up for unlimited service and therefore ruled against them ordering that they more clearly disclose the upload limitation.

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Free Comcast WiFi Piggybacking on YOUR Router

Comcast is making a generous offer until July 4th: use their WiFi network free:

Xfinity free wifi

Comcast promises that you can access over 100,000 hotspots just by looking for the XfinityWiFi or CableWiFi network name on your list of available networks. How can Comcast have so many hotspots?

*MOUSE PRINT:

You, the Comcast customer, are providing (many of) them, probably without even knowing it. According to published reports, new Comcast routers have two channels: one for the WiFi signal in your home for you to use, and a supposedly separate one for the public (or other Comcast customers to use). They say you won’t be charged and your service won’t be degraded when others tap into your Internet connection.

And to add insult to injury, you allow others to tap into your router by default, unless you affirmatively opt-out.

While the public is invited to tap into your router until July 4th (and for just two hours after that), in the future only other Comcast customers will be able to.

How do you feel about sharing your broadband Internet connection with strangers?