Oh, so you thought your name, face and fact that you “liked” the coffee at that place down the road was personal, private information? Sorry to say but, you’re wrong. At least in Google’s eyes that is…

As of November 11, Google will introduce a new policy to show “shared endorsements” on their site, and the rest of the web, which is seen by over a billion people. These “shared endorsements” will be ads for companies you have rated or posted about, and will include your profile picture and name.

So, if you gave the new Rihanna song five stars on Google Play, searches for this song will pop up with your name and photo and the caption, “This sucker rated this song this many stars” – or something like that. Same goes for comments on Amazon products, YouTube videos and the coffee at that place down the road.

Companies will pay Google to advertise your endorsements on the site to increase “word-of-mouth marketing.” Google said it will give its users the option to opt-out of being used as endorsement making machines and under-18 users will automatically be excluded.

[Source : The New York Times]