47 points

I like how the assumption seems to be that the thing users object to about “websites track your browsing history around the web in order to show you targeted ads” is… the “websites” part

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22 points

holy fuck, that’s such a good description of the shitty marketing tactic google is trying here. they’re shifting focus away from the awful shit they’re doing more of to something that doesn’t matter

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32 points

When I worked in agencies you could pick the suits that had lost touch with reality by how much they seemed to believe that targeted ads are useful enough to be some kind of public service. Now google use the same rhetoric to justify user tracking

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18 points

on the engineering side, I keep having to turn down executive feature requests with “this is functionally indistinguishable from malware”

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25 points

Sites you visit can ask Chrome for your interests to show you ads.

Nifty. Let’s ask what my browser has to offer instead (Firefox + uBlock Origin).

Sites can not show you ads.

Hmm that’s a tough choice hmm.

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5 points

But think of all the great ads you’re missing out on!

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17 points

Google already has your browsing data if you use chrome, whether you agree to this or not. stop using chrome.

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2 points
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I think that this actually at least appears to be a good step from google.

Third parties no longer need to know who you are. As i understand it, chrome can directly deliver only the necessary information just when it is needed. No external saving of data required.

Also: get over it. Most of the internet works, because people learn of products and then buy them. Personalized ads are sent to show people things, which they specifically might be interested in. People want to sell products and solely this allows many websites you probably like to use, to exist in the first place.

No one here is inherently evil or owns you, because they can show you relevant marketing.

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23 points
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  1. they literally sell browsing data for pennies
  2. nah, no thanks
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15 points

Also: get over it. Most of the internet works, because people learn of products and then buy them.

holy fuck I’m so sorry you think this is it, that this broke-ass business model is all that ever existed for the internet, that you’ve never experienced the good bits that used to be relatively plentiful but are now rare

…it’s also kind of fucking stupid to post an opinion like this on the fediverse of all places

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4 points

it’s also kind of fucking stupid to post an opinion like this on the fediverse of all places

this is the best mic drop savagery I’ve read in a while. There is no coming back from it.

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15 points

Third parties no longer need to know who you are. As i understand it, chrome can directly deliver only the necessary information just when it is needed. No external saving of data required.

This isn’t better at all. Sure, there are fewer parties that collect the data, but that just means only google can sell access to it, which gives google a near monopoly. This is only good if you think Google deserves more power and influence.

Also: get over it. Most of the internet works, because people learn of products and then buy them.

Nice. “The internet only works if you let them manipulate you with your private info” is quite the take, especially when you’re on a website that works without it. Next you’ll say, “ads might work on you, but i’m just built different”.

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6 points
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Deleted by creator
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12 points

The Internet is not for capitalists. It has been co-opted.

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9 points
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Deleted by creator
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8 points

It’s not like marketing has to be an essential part of the browsing experience, either.

How would the interest break without ads? I can’t see that happening.

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7 points

solely this allows many websites you probably like to use, to exist in the first place.

I’m used to loss. Bring it on.

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6 points

but how will we survive without our favorite passionless low-quality content designed to drive ad impressions with no other goal in mind

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5 points

In the spirit of rationalism I’m going to invent terminology for something that probably already has better terminology, and spout a bunch of unsubstantiated stuff. Ads would be fine if advertising campaigns were zeroth order only, by which i mean, purely to publicise products with no effort to “sell” you on something. First order they try convince you to buy something, without lying. Second order is where they begin lying by omission, third order is when they begin outright lying. Higher orders are increasingly kafkaesque/dystopian. E.g.:

  • any publicity stunt
  • Influencing ideas about identity to sell a product, i.e. real men eat meat, dolls are for girls, etc.
  • manipulating your personal ethics to launder the ethics of a company, e.g. an oil company urging an individual to go green so that the oil company doesn’t have to
  • legal racketeering, i.e. lobbying for regulatory measures that force people to buy something
  • any participation in a political campaign

The list goes on. As advertising has continued and the profession has been refined, the overton window of what was considered in good taste has shifted to include these increasingly perverse strategems.

Everything big tech has done with advertising just adds to the list. They’ve broken the window completely. To use a term from our old pal Yud, the “inscrutable matrices” that make up their personalisation algorithms might show you more relevant content alongside ads, but they will also trigger a positive feedback loop radicalising you into one ideology or another. See: facebook q-pilling middle america.

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14 points

Example how even with much criticism Google is going to do their ideas anyway.

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