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Google’s interest-based advertising looks like Phorm/Webwise/spyware

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Google’s interest-based advertising looks like Phorm/Webwise/spyware

Google will replace their current Adsense advertising with Phorm-style interest-based advertising with effect from 1st April 2009.  They’re advising website owners to update their privacy policy becuase of this, but I don’t think that doing that is sufficient.

Their current Adsense ads show advertisements that are based on the content of the site on which the ads are shown.  For example, on this site the ads might include F1 race tickets or karting companies.  Google’s new Interest-based ads will show ads based on websites that the person has previously visited.  So, when someone visits a site that contains Google ads, Google assumes that the person is interested in the content of that site and records that person’s interest in it.  When that person visits another site with Google ads, Google will show ads based on the database of what Google considers interesting to that person.

This sounds like the Phorm (AKA Webwise) privacy scandal that BT and other ISPs got into before.  Basically, they installed equipment an advertising company’s equipment that monitored websites their customers visited, and served adverts related to those previous websites.  The Information Commissioner (Data Protection Act) and the EU law enforcers were concerned that privacy was being breached.  It seems that BT (and maybe Virgin and TalkTalk) are going to introduce this spyware-like technology at some point in the future.

Getting back to Google, they sent an email to website owners saying “your privacy policy will need to reflect the use of interest-based advertising”.  Well, I don’t have a privacy policy because I don’t collect personal data.  I’m certainly not going to spend time and money getting one drawn up so Google can earn more money by placing interest-based ads on my site; ads that might have nothing to do with the content of my site.

And having a privacy policy for a website is not sufficient legally, in my opinion.  In order to view the privacy policy, someone has to visit my website.  By visiting my website, their visit is logged by Google before the person has a chance to decide whether they want that data recorded or not.  So, in effect, data about their visit is collected without their consent, and that’s illegal in the UK.

Quite simply, this whole thing worries me.  It sounds like spyware.  After all, people’s browsing habits are being tracked without their express permission, and that to me is spyware.  So, come 1st April, my site will no longer be showing Google ads.  That leaves more space for me to add things that my visitors actually want to see.

Comments welcome, for or against.

Recent Jobs

Tech support from your ISP could be a costly waste of time

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Tech support from your ISP could be a costly waste of time

BBC News reported on a Which? report today which shows that most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are using premium rate numbers for their tech support.

Why would anyone want to pay premium rates for a call to India and have to wait (while paying) for their call to be answered? Why not contact me? My time is cheaper than some premium rate tech support calls, and I’ll help you in person. Most of the calls I get are from people who have called their ISP, spent around an hour on the phone, and still haven’t got a solution. Most of the time, it’s not a problem the ISP can fix directly anyway.

Take a recent case as an example. A couple, both computer novices, had been on the phone to BT for ages because they couldn’t get their PC connected to their internet service. BT tech support had asked them to do lots of stuff on the PC to try to fix the problem, but as novice’s this was slow and frustrating. They even told them to buy an unusual type of USB cable to connect the modem/router to the PC. They did, but that didn’t work either.

I went round and started my diagnostics. I found that my laptop easily connected to their internet service, so it wasn’t a problem with the BT end of things. Their PC couldn’t ‘see’ the modem using the USB cable; the reason is that the USB socket on their BT modem is for attaching an external hard disk, not a computer, so that was never going to work. This just illustrates that the BT helpline doesn’t even know how its own equipment works.

The solution was easy. I fitted an Ethernet card to the PC (having cleaned out the dust from the inside of the PC first) and we got a connection immediately. They’ll have a good, reliable internet connection now. It’s something a novice couldn’t do on his own, and a helpdesk can’t do over the phone.

It took 90 minutes from start to finish, including cleaning out the PC, explaining everything in terms they understood, and a good chat (I know them personally). 90 minutes of personal service, compared to long phone calls, trips to PC World for unnecessary purchases, and still no solution.

I offer:

  • In-you-home PC and IT services for residential clients in Essex, UK
  • In-your-office PC and IT services for business clients nationally (if it’s cost effective for you and me)
  • Online tech support. See the link on the homepage www.bowenracing.com (requires broadband connection)
  • Payment by cash, cheque, credit card, or PayPal

Whatever you need, if it involves computers or IT then please contact me by using the Contact menu item at the top of the page.

F1 2009

F1 2009 Calendar

by Colin Bowen1 Comment on F1 2009 Calendar

Only seven weeks to go!!!

I hope to make better use of this website for F1 this year.  Time permitting I will be posting practice times, race results, Championship standings, and whatever else will help me (and you) keep in touch with the Championship.

To start, here are the race dates for 2009.

Mar 29 Australia
Apr 5 Malaysia
Apr 19 China
Apr 26 Bahrain
May 10 Spain
May 24 Monaco
Jun 7 Turkey
Jun 21 Great Britain
Jul 12 Germany
Jul 26 Hungary
Aug 23 Europe (Valencia)
Aug 30 Belgium
Sep 13 Italy
Sep 27 Singapore
Oct 4 Japan
Oct 18 Brazil
Nov 1 Abu Dhabi

Competition Series

I’m out of the competition :-(

by Colin Bowen5 Comments on I’m out of the competition :-(

Just a quick note to say I took part in Round 3 of the competition on Wednesday, but didn’t get through to Round 4 due to a combination of a bad car and my stupid driving. When (if) I get a chance, I’ll write more fully about what happened another time.

Thanks for all the messages of support I’ve had.

Competition Series, Karting

So F1 – Round 3 – Yes, I’m through!

by Colin Bowen1 Comment on So F1 – Round 3 – Yes, I’m through!

Quick post to say I have had confirmation that I’m through to Round 3 of this competition.  It takes place Wednesday.  Will let you know how it goes.  Wish me luck.

Competition Series

So You Want to be an F1 Driver – competition update

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on So You Want to be an F1 Driver – competition update

I’m getting a lot of visitors looking for information on the So World F1 Driver competition.  The current news is that Round 3 is on next week, and some people have received letters saying they’re through.  I haven’t had a letter so I’ve contacted So World and I’m waiting for confirmation one way or the other.

If you want to find all articles about this competition (and the previous one, which I was also in), [EDIT] click ‘So F1’ tag underneath the title of this post. [Previously under the category “So You Want to be an F1 Driver”.]

Wish me luck!

Thanks.

IT - Other

Twitter – Maxed out following, and un-following (should we feel bad)?

by Colin Bowen2 Comments on Twitter – Maxed out following, and un-following (should we feel bad)?

I’ve just exceeded the number of people I feel I can effectively follow, 60.  Any more than that and I feel that Twitter will become less interesting/useful to me.  I want to stay close to the people I follow, and see a decent proportion of their tweets. 

Already I have come to the conclusion that I can’t read all the tweets, I’ll just dip in and read what I can in the time available.  If I follow more people, it just reduces the number of tweets I see per person.

So, what do I do if someone new follows me now?  My initial thoughts are that if they have something really interesting to say then I’ll follow them, but it’s going to have to be really, really interesting.  If I do follow them, I’ll be looking for someone to un-follow so I keep the numbers effective. 

It’s hard to un-follow people, as I may have a relationship with that person.  I feel bad when someone un-follows me (and always wonder why).  So, should we feel un-follow people?  And if we do, should we feel bad about it?  Should we feel bad when we’re un-followed?

Please leave a comment.  Please include your @username.  Please also say how you found out about this post.  Thanks.

Competition Series, Karting

So You Want to be an F1 Driver (SoWorld) – Round 3 – date announced

by Colin Bowen2 Comments on So You Want to be an F1 Driver (SoWorld) – Round 3 – date announced

Just heard from Kaz that Round 3 will be at Rye House for outdoor karting on 28 January 2009.  He received a letter about it.  I haven’t heard anything.  I was on the reserves list, so I hope the lack of a letter is not a bad omen.

Will post more when I have more info.

IT - Other

Thank you T-Mobile for your terrible Fair Use Policy

by Colin Bowen4 Comments on Thank you T-Mobile for your terrible Fair Use Policy

I just noticed that visitors to this website increased sharply over the last few weeks.  Looking into it further, it seems that 60% of the people who visited the site had searched for something about T-Mobile’s ‘Fair Use Policy’ (see earlier posts).

My guess is that most (if not all) of those people had had letters about so-called ‘excessive use’ of their T-Mobile broadband. 

T-Mobile still has “Browse as much as you want and never worry about cost with our unlimited price plans” on its website.  It is not unlimited!  There is a maximum speed, and if you download too much they slow the speed down so much that surfing is impracticable, and it’s slowed for the rest of the contract term.  How is that ‘unlimited’?

No other (major) mobile broadband provider caps the speed if you exceed the usage limit, but they do charge for any data you use in excess of the limit:

Vodafone Mobile Broadband charges £15 per GB if you exceed their limit.

3 Mobile Broadband charges £100 per GB thereafter if you exceed their limit.

O2 Mobile Broadband charges £200 per GB if you exceed their limit!  £200 per GB!!!!

If you feel that these caps and charges are unfair and/or extortionate, please leave a comment (even if it’s just “Me too”).

Still want to buy mobile broadband?  If so, check the ads to the right, and send a few pence my way (at no cost to you).  Thanks.

Well, I guess that ends any hope of a mobile telecoms company sponsoring my motor racing career.  Come to think of it, I’m looking for work at the moment too, so I guess these are four companies I won’t have to contact.

IT - Other

BBC – you are so Broadcaster 1.0

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on BBC – you are so Broadcaster 1.0

Argh!!!  I want to subscribe to all the Darwin programmes as podcasts, not just one of them.  Why do you insist on trying to force me to use the stupid iPlayer?  I don’t want to listen at my computer, I want to listen when it suits me, on whatever device I choose.

iPlayer looks nice, but it doesn’t function in a 2.0 way.  Maybe I’ll call you Broadcaster 1.1 (instead of 1.0) because you are trying, but iPlayer is just like a TV on a PC; it doesn’t give people the on-demand watch-anywhere experience that people now want.  We want to download when it’s convenient, and watch when it’s convenient; on our PCs or mobile devices (without using proprietry software), whether or not we have access to the internet at the time, on the train, in the car; whenever, wherever, however.  Only when we can do that will you be Broadcaster 2.0.  Come on!  It’s not the future, it’s now!