Google today announced three updates in its terms of service that will go live on November 11. While two of them are statuary warnings about not using Google while driving and keeping your password safe, there is one update about shared endorsements that is likely to spook proponents of online privacy. With the new terms of service, Google will be able to use information from your Google account and have your endorsement with your name and profile photo in its ads. Think about this, if you +1′d a page about a car and wrote a positive comment, don’t be surprised if your friends see a Google ad about that car on any website with your photo being displayed along with your endorsement.
This is the logical utilization of Google’s +1 button that was announced way back in 2011. In all probability, Google now has enough +1′s across product categories to be able to offer advertisers a solution that ensures majority of Google ads people see have some sort of an endorsement from someone they or people in their circle know.
The shared endorsement option is turned on by default for every Google account but Google provides users an option to opt out from it. So if you are uncomfortable seeing yourself endorsing some product in a Google ad, you can go to Shared Endorsement settings and opt out.
