All I have to do is TELL Google not to spy on me, and everything will be hunky-dory.

I loved Google for a long time, since back when Yahoo was still a superpower—but lately I’m having my doubts. Google’s tracking me online in order to target ads just for me. I feel like a cow standing at the base of a long wooden chute and looking at good old Farmer Brown—bringer of sweet hay and crunchy cow chow—in a whole new light.

“Interest-based advertising” has long been the Holy Grail of online advertising, cited as a Gee Whiz Futopian Dream for most online content providers. Google slipped it in so cleverly, most web surfers never saw it coming. Hy, we can combine your email with your calendar and the contents of your hard drive! We’ll even store it on our servers for you in case you need something when your on vacation! Don’t worry, though. Our motto is “Do No Evil”. We won’t use your information for our own benefit. Really. We won’t—because we’re, you know, not Evil.

(Cue the ubiquitous “Bwa-ha-ha” now)

New York Times, 3/11/09 Google to Offer Ads Based on Interests

Google has preemptively offered to let us lab rats ‘opt-out’ of this process—sort of. Ethically speaking, the default for any type of online spam recruitment should be “opt-in”, not “opt-out”, but Google is the Five Hundred Pound Canary who can sit wherever it darn well pleases.

Instead, Google offers a browser plug-in to block the one specific cookie (from the unabashedly evil DoubleClick) that they put on your machine. Well and good, but it’s only one teeny-tiny electron on the crazy spinning atom of online advertising cookies. If you’ve been keeping up on browser security, you would have done already blocked DoubleClick along with hundreds of other creepy cookies. If you REALLY want to see ads tailored to your need for baby formula or male-enhancement products, you can tinker with the Ads Preference Manager.

A better approach than letting Google slip you another cookie

Try AdBlock Plus, a free browser plugin that will make ALL online advertising magically go away. They will still track you, but you won’t see the results.

Great in-depth article “How to opt out of Google’s new targeted ads” at Consumerist.com