Do you recognize the sleek little button in the above image? You’ve probably seen it on plenty of websites, and now you’re about to see it on Facebook.
It’s the logo for Google’s AdChoices system. Facebook will start using the system on most of its site ads very soon. If you see the logo on an ad, it means that you are seeing personalized ads based on your past browsing history.
Like most ad tracking systems, AdChoices puts a cookie on your computer that records what kind of sites you visit and what ads you click. It then uses that profile to serve you ads targeted to what it thinks you like.
For example, if an ad company sees that you’ve visited a bookstore site and a sports site, it might serve you ads for the latest sports autobiography.
There are thousands of different examples like this that you might see every day. Though ad companies don’t learn much about who you are, they can do quite a bit with the information they do learn.
Bringing AdChoices to Facebook, however, takes it a worrying step further. Facebook hasn’t disclosed all the details, but instead of picking up bits and pieces from your browsing, AdChoices might just pull your Likes, groups and other information directly.
Read More and Directions to TURN it OFF: http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=14001&utm_medium=nl&utm_source=notd&utm_content=2013-02-06-article_1-cta
