Google Sets Plan to Sell Users’ Endorsements ⇥ nytimes.com

Claire Cain Miller and Vindu Goel, New York Times:

When the new ad policy goes live Nov. 11, Google will be able to show what the company calls shared endorsements on Google sites and across the Web, on the more than two million sites in Google’s display advertising network, which are viewed by an estimated one billion people.

Judging by the precedent established both by Facebook and Google’s own ad policies, I find this a terrible idea. While Google claims users can opt-out, the Los Angeles Times reports that it doesn’t fully opt you out of every incidence in which your name and photo may be tied to an ad. Sleazy.