Google Inc., under scrutiny from privacy watchdogs for changes it made to its search engine, is launching a splashy ad campaign designed to alleviate privacy concerns.
According to a report in Los Angeles Times, Google is rolling out the Good to Know campaign in two dozen U.S. newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Times, and in public places such as the subways in New York and Washington to encourage people to protect themselves and their information on the Web. The campaign offers practical advice and tips, including how to manage what kind of data people share with Google and websites.
Google, whose success depends on users feeling comfortable enough to spend huge chunks of their time online, originally launched the campaign in Britain in October.
The Internet search giant is trying to drum up publicity stateside as discomfort spreads with its new search feature called Search plus Your World, in which photos, updates and other private information from its Google+ social network are blended with search results, the report says.
Last week, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission widened its antitrust probe of the search engine to include Google+, according to a person who is familiar with the investigation but requested anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak on the matter. The agency is examining whether the company is giving preferential treatment to its own services in violation of antitrust laws.
Google's director of privacy, Alma Whitten, called the Good to Know privacy campaign "quite ambitious."
"Given who we are, we have a strong incentive to make the Internet a place that people feel safe to do interesting things," Whitten said.
“Yes, the incentive is truly muscular, as well as interesting,” Chris Matyszczyk said in his post on CNET. “Naturally, the more cynical might suggest that such a campaign helps Google politically in its quest not to be seen as a haughty, patronizing monopoly which is attempting to ensure that all mankind participates in its social network. I merely remain titillated that a company that was once so against traditional advertising is now so smitten by its seductive qualities. I fancy that the time is not long coming when Google will tug heartily at the core of old Procter and Gamble advertising and create a campaign that tells – with the help of a side-by-side demonstration – why Facebook is bad for your mental health,” he said.
