Google has update their terms and conditions for using Adsense...I found out because when going to Adsense it popped up a huge Terms and Conditions box that I have to choose to accept, postpone, or decline.

Apparently the main reason for the update is to change the wording to cover potential new ad formats like Gadget Ads:
http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/02/updated-terms-and-conditions.html

But what I found strange was the following:
"You must have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy that clearly discloses that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users’ browser, or using web beacons to collect information, in the course of ads being served on your website. Your privacy policy should also include information about user options for cookie management."

They require you to have a Privacy policy for using Adsense and to include all that information? I wonder how many people will actually do that.

It always strikes me as odd that some people perceive a need for websites to publish a cookie policy, when the REAL cookie policy is within the user's browser, and under the user's control.

I'm hoping that Google will publish a standard minimal policy that can be used by "ordinary" (non-spamming) websites. Then, we can just copy that instead of having to write our own.

Needing to have this policy is just bureaucracy. It doesn't in any way make the world a better place. The spammers and scammers still operate; they just have a smooth-sounding policy that really means "we aim to pwn you".

I have done calculated the differences between the old one and the new one here: http://www.jimkarter.com/2008-02-27-new-google-adsense-policy-change.html

Thank you, Jim. Why didn't Google do this?