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Google's ads are coming out at a time when lawmakers and regulators in the U.S. and Europe have been examining whether to mandate changes on how much information that websites can gather about visitors without giving them more controls to prevent the surveillance. Gathering digital dossiers of personal data helps target Internet ads at people more likely to buy the products and services being peddled. Google has an incentive to ensure online ads remain as effective possible because those commercial messages generate most of its revenue, which totaled $27 billion through the first nine months of last year. The company's full-year figures are due out Thursday. The ad campaign is "really just a PR offensive to help dim the increased scrutiny of Google's privacy practices," Chester said. Not so, says Alma Whitten, who was named Google's director of privacy for product and engineering after the company acknowledged its 2010 missteps. "We all have family and friends that ask us for advice on privacy and security all the time," Whitten said. Those recurring questions, she said, made Google realize it should do something to give everyone a better grasp on the fundamentals of online privacy. The total bill for the multi-week blitz will run in the "tens of millions" dollars, according to Google. The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., declined to be more specific
[Associated
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