Google revised its privacy policy on October 16 to clarify that information from Gmail, Drive, and Google Photos may be used to personalize ads when users let other Google services access it. Previously, the policy said those services’ content would not be used for personalized advertising; the new exception applies when users share it with services that support ad personalization. This affects people who connect their accounts to features such as Search’s Personal Intelligence, which uses personal information to tailor AI responses and recommendations. Search may process permitted data to personalize both content and ads, potentially linking what it learns from connected services to advertising across Google platforms.
Google says advertisers do not receive access to users’ Gmail, Photos, or Drive information, or identifying details such as names and email addresses. It also says it will not target ads based on sensitive categories including race, sexual orientation, religion, or health. The policy describes ads based on interests, activity, or personalized content - for example, a search for mountain bikes could lead to sports-equipment ads on YouTube. Users who want to avoid this use of their personal data can disconnect individual apps from Search’s Personal Intelligence features or turn off Personalized Recommendations in Search’s personalization settings.
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A cross-request KV cache flaw in Cloudflare’s GLM-5.3 Workers AI model exposed data between requests. Cloudflare describes how it remediated the issue, which involved 155 responses. (blog.cloudflare.com)
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Rhode Island has sued Meta, alleging the company profited from scam ads on its platforms. The state is the first to bring this type of lawsuit against Meta. (rhodeislandcurrent.com)
Russian IT specialist Yuri Belenko was sentenced to 13 years for donating to a Ukrainian military fund. Investigators used customer data Binance provided in response to a Russian Investigative Committee request to prove the transfers. (meduza.io)
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