Google Takes Privacy In Ad Blitz

Google is focusing on the importance of protecting personal information in an unusual marketing campaign for a company that has been blasted for its own online privacy lapses and practices.

The educational ads will start appearing in US newspapers and magazines, including Time and the New Yorker. Google Inc. will also splash its message across billboards within the subways of New York and Washington, as well as various websites.

Google will address some of the basics of online privacy and security in the "Good To Know" ads, which will all include referrals to a website for additional information.

Initial topics to be covered include the steps that can be taken to protect online account passwords and the use of computer coding to locate and identify web surfers. Google will also try to explain why its widely used search engine can produce more helpful results if it knows more about the past interests of the person making the request.

Google's ads are coming out at a time when lawmakers and regulators in the US and Europe are thinking of mandating changes on how much information websites can gather about visitors without giving them more controls to prevent the surveillance.

The total bill for the multi-week blitz will run in the "tens of millions" of dollars.