Third-party advertisers tracking users in Google ad network

May 30, 2008 – 6:09 AM

Google is apparently allowing third-party advertisers to track consumers using the company’s ad network, a practice that raised concerns from one privacy advocate.

Some of the third-party ad servers and ad agencies that Google has approved to deliver ads through its network engage in behavioral advertising practices that require tracking consumers, said Jeffrey Chester, a privacy advocate and frequent critic of Google’s privacy practices.

“Google is the most important digital media company,” Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), wrote in an e-mail. “Its activities should be as transparent as possible to consumers (let alone regulators).”

Google announced this month that it has begun to allow third parties to deliver ads on the Google content network. Several of the third parties listed by Google in its announcement engage in behavioral advertising, Chester said.

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