Thursday, February 12, 2015

Stop Google from Using Your Face

Imagine that you are doing a Google search for a product, and underneath that product is a picture of your best friend with a review he wrote last year.  Would you be more likely to purchase that product?  Of course, you would!

That's why Google updated its privacy policy last year to allow it to use your public images and reviews to try to sell more items.  Although your name and image must be publicly available and they will only be shown to your friends, this still feels like an invasion of your privacy.

Google calls these Shared Endorsements.  If you are over 18, Google has enabled permission to use your name, picture, and review in its ads by default.  However, you can disable this permission by unchecking one box.  Head to the Shared Endorsements page, scroll to the bottom, uncheck the one check box, and click save.

This permission applies based on your Google account.  If you have set up multiple Google accounts, you will need to follow these steps for each account.

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