Google+ ad plan hit by protests

Google is already facing a backlash over its new “shared endorsements” scheme which allows the company to use people’s pictures and comments into advertisements unless users opt-out.
The policy change starts on November 11 and covers the comments, “follows” and other actions people do on Google+, although it is already notifying consumers of the scheme.
But many people have already protested about the change to Google, with some altering their image profiles on the Google+ social network so that it shows Google boss Eric Schmidt.
Google maintains it has made it easy for people to opt out of the system, after alerting users to the policy change via banners on its main webpage and in a page explaining the change to its “policies and principles”.
The company has yet to issue an official comment about the protests over “shared endorsements”. However, in its explanatory pages it said it was easy to opt out of the system by clicking a box on the Google+ account settings page.
It warned that if people did not want to be part of the programme some of their comments and follows may no longer be visible to others they know on Google+.
The move mirrors the “sponsored stories” scheme launched by Facebook in 2011. This resulted in legal action which forced Facebook to pay out $20m to compensate the estimated 614,000 users whose images it had used without permission. However, this worked out at only $15 (£9.65) each.

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