Google: We didn't do anything wrong, and we've stopped doing it

Busted. [Link]

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Google and other ad companies have been using special code to sidestep privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser and track Web users on desktop computers and the iPhone.

The Journal also said that on one of Google's sites--in language that has since been removed--the Internet giant had said Safari users could rely on the browser's privacy settings to avoid tracking by Google.

The privacy-skirting code, which the Journal said Google disabled after being contacted by the paper, appears to have been used to let members of the Google+ social network sign in and then, while moving around the Web, click +1 buttons in ads that are part of Google's DoubleClick ad network. The +1 buttons let a user give a thumbs-up to an item and automatically share that approval with friends via a message on the user's Google+ profile.