Google Ads Blog

Is this just Copenhagen Ethics[1] striking again? "Bail bonds companies are associated with something bad (the current criminal justice system), so they inherent the taint of evil."

What do they expect is going to happen when you make it harder for potential customers to find alternatives to the loudest bail bondsman? You just make it easier for the fewer, established bondsmen to offer harsher terms.

With that said, there is a right way to approach problems like this[3]: actually help the ostensible victims find a good alternative that does care about not exploiting them.

For an example of the model, here's my experience when I visited a California check-cashing place (long story): before cashing the check, on ridiculous terms, they walk you through several cheaper alternatives (no idea if this is a legal requirement).

I don't see anything in their announcement[2] that suggests they'll take this approach, which would be something like: replace the "bad ads" with ones for the superior, non-profit alternatives that they want these communities to use. It's just unhelpful moralizing from advocates with a dubious model of the harm's causation.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10367855

[2] Warning: it will probably set off your add blocker: https://adwords.googleblog.com/2018/05/google-bans-ads-for-bail-bonds-services.html

[3] by "this", I mean a case where there's a bad system, and a for profit group that's offering a local improvement but seems slimy nonetheless

The first one seems most likely to be the relevant answer to how this was tracked:

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/05/powering-ads-and-analytics-innovations.html

> Google’s third-party partnerships ... capture approximately 70% of credit and debit card transactions in the United States

See also https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/google-and-mastercard-cut-a-secret-ad-deal-to-track-retail-sales and https://www.technologyreview.com/2017/05/25/242717/google-now-tracks-your-credit-card-purchases-and-connects-them-to-its-online-profile-of-you/ - Google has deals with the credit card providers to get purchase data so they can link them back to your online behavior.

> Point of order: their inline-ad-placement on search results is evil.

I don't think that is necessarily evil, but it certainly is embarrassing for Google since Google used to make fun of competing search engines for that exact behavior back when Google was still the underdog.

Spying on everyone's credit/debit card transaction data, on the other hand, is definitely evil.

> as Google said in a blog post on its new service for marketers, it has partnered with “third parties” that give them access to 70 percent of all credit and debit card purchases

https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/05/powering-ads-and-analytics-innovations.html

It's worth seeing the information from the source. The talk[0] and the blog post[1]. Plus, as Engadget called out[2] in an update, you can opt-out by contacting your credit card company, and there are more details at the FTC[3].

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmkRJqnQ2T8&19m05s

[1] https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/05/powering-ads-and-analytics-innovations.html

[2] https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/23/google-track-shopping-trips-ads/

[3] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0222-privacy-choices-your-personal-financial-information

Advertising. Definitely first party data for targeting. An advertiser takes some data from its CRM, sends it to the big social sites and google, and then uses the list to target those folks specifically or create look-a-likes. Actual cross device targeting (because people are logged in), extremely personalized and relevant.

This is coupled with a move away from cookies[0].

0. https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/01/making-youtube-better-in-mobile-cross.html