AOL Spreads Its Privacy Education Program

AOL announced a program that will help Internet users understand behaviorally targeted advertising, along with providing mechanisms for opting out of such targeting.

This position should have interesting implications for AOL's billion-dollar relationship with Google, which provides search and advertising for AOL.

Google could be hard-pressed to explain opposition to using such an opt-out mechanism, unless they have something similar planned for their DoubleClick purchase.

Privacy online became a broader issue this week, as the Federal Trade Commission convened its two-day town hall to discuss behavioral advertising. Google executive Tim Armstrong and a couple of the company's lawyers were among those on hand to soothe privacy concerns.

Several groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center oppose Google's acquisition of DoubleClick on privacy grounds, citing the vast amount of information Google would control about millions of Internet users.