I think I’m with you on this, and I’ve gotten similar feedback from others on the topic. It actually originally was mostly a test bed for us to figure out how to get the images for the books to display in the recent book submissions. I’ll mention this at the next admin gathering and we’ll consider it for removal in the next code update, which should be later this month sometime.

I didn’t even realize the Amazon ads were contextual until you mentioned it. It doesn’t seem like they do a very good job of delivering content relevant to the page or relevant based on my Amazon browsing or purchase history.

The privacy information link just below the ad was not working when I last tried it, but it worked today. According to the policy:

Although we may use your Amazon.com cookie to determine whether you are a recognized Amazon visitor and to offer personalized content (such as product recommendations) and special offers, we do not keep or attempt to construct a record of the Web sites you visit.

How is that worse than any other advertisement you see on the web? They almost all collect cookies. Just check your cache. The only difference between these ads and the other ones you see, is that you may already be an Amazon customer. If you browse the Amazon website you already know they attempt to collect your viewing and purchase history to make recommendations. How is it so bad to get these recommendations on another site? Amazon says they do not share this data with any of their associates nor do they collect your browsing history via these ads. If you do not want Amazon to collect information on you, don’t shop at or visit Amazon. If you don’t, then there is no history for the "contextual" ads they deliver on OmniNerd or any other site.

As for me, I will do my Amazon shopping through these ads to help support OmniNerd.