4 ms·

It really just comes down to greed. The publishers had a good thing. They were making some profit, and they were finding ways to innovate (better tech, better s

It really just comes down to greed. The publishers had a good thing. They were making some profit, and they were finding ways to innovate (better tech, better subscription penetration, etc.), and then they had to go and get greedy with all our personal data. That's what sparked the war. We simply aren't willing to pay that much for the content we consume.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
I'd agree with everything you say if I'd cross out "with our personal data". I don't think this is what started the war - most people don't care or even understand the nuances of this issue. But they experience publishers' greed directly in form of more ads, more annoying ads, more scammy ads, malware installed by ads, etc. Nowadays ads are offensive actions - annoying at best, costing lot of time and money at worst (if you catch that ransomware because some asshole put the thing you're looking for inside a "value-add" bundle). It's enough to piss everyone off even without bringing up the topic of data they're collecting and what they're doing with it.
- mangeletti 11y ago
  You're right. I think the personal data aspect of it really angers some of us, but in reality the sheer volume and annoyance of ads these days is more of a slap in the face than anything else. Perhaps privacy concerns have helped to push us over a tipping point.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    I think that privacy concerns may be what caused the recent increase in the development of ad-blocking and anti-tracking tools. Tech people seem to care disproportionally more about on-line privacy than the rest, and they're the ones who develop tools to stop it.
malka 11y ago
This. I have no problem with ad per se. They are a annoying but necessary part of life. After all, products and brand needs to make themselve known. However, I do have a problem with tracking. I'd rather have ads that are of no interest to me than having a ad network gathering huge of amount of data about me. The day ad network will stop tracking, I will stop blocking.

TeMPOraL 11y ago

I'd agree with everything you say if I'd cross out "with our personal data". I don't think this is what started the war - most people don't care or even understand the nuances of this issue. But they experience publishers' greed directly in form of more ads, more annoying ads, more scammy ads, malware installed by ads, etc. Nowadays ads are offensive actions - annoying at best, costing lot of time and money at worst (if you catch that ransomware because some asshole put the thing you're looking for inside a "value-add" bundle). It's enough to piss everyone off even without bringing up the topic of data they're collecting and what they're doing with it.

mangeletti 11y ago
You're right. I think the personal data aspect of it really angers some of us, but in reality the sheer volume and annoyance of ads these days is more of a slap in the face than anything else. Perhaps privacy concerns have helped to push us over a tipping point.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  I think that privacy concerns may be what caused the recent increase in the development of ad-blocking and anti-tracking tools. Tech people seem to care disproportionally more about on-line privacy than the rest, and they're the ones who develop tools to stop it.

malka 11y ago

This. I have no problem with ad per se. They are a annoying but necessary part of life. After all, products and brand needs to make themselve known. However, I do have a problem with tracking. I'd rather have ads that are of no interest to me than having a ad network gathering huge of amount of data about me. The day ad network will stop tracking, I will stop blocking.