How to stop Google from using your face in ads

You may have heard that Google plans to use your name and photo in advertising on its various web services, à la Facebook. Changes to Google's terms of service, which take effect on November 11, will show your friends and connections if you've +1'd or rated a restaurant or song being advertised, for example.

That is, if you let Google co-opt your identity for advertising purposes. You see, Google is giving us a choice (for now, anyways).

Just head over to Google's Shared Endorsements page. If you're logged in, you'll see a checkbox at the bottom, next to this text: "Based upon my activity, Google may show my name and profile photo in shared endorsements that appear in ads."

If you don't want a Google ad to tell everyone you know that you gave four stars to Miley Cyrus's Bangerz and reviewed it as "The best album since Hilary Duff's Metamorphosis", make sure the box is unchecked. That's it.

Of course, there's no opt-out for the use of your name, photo, and activity in search results and other non-advertising contexts. This is Google, after all.