5 ms·

I counted 21 cases of mostly targeted ads in that single article.

jolux 10y ago
And what makes you think the author of that article has any control over the business model of the publication they're writing for? Are we not allowed to criticize ad tech online in ad supported venues? Because all of the most popular venues are ad supported. If you want a voice, you have to make compromises.
- ucaetano 10y ago
  "If you want a voice, you have to make compromises." "If you want free wifi, you have to make compromises."
  - jolux 10y ago
    Yes and who wanted free WiFi exactly? Bill DeBlasio?
    - ucaetano 10y ago
      Apparently everyone who's using it.
      - jolux 10y ago
        Yes and if you gave everyone a free sandwich they'd probably eat it too, but if you do that you can't then say "but you asked for a free sandwich" when you reveal that you actually captured everyone's personal details for advertising purposes.
        ucaetano 10y ago
        Most people would give up their personal details for a free sandwich.
- unethical_ban 10y ago
  A digital ocean VPS is $5 a month. Is village voice.com really that big a draw?
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Reporters and printing presses rarely run $5 a month.
  - pjc50 10y ago
    Presumably villagevoice actually pay their writers?
    - morgante 10y ago
      Presumably installing free wifi kiosks actually costs money.
      - jolux 10y ago
        Yeah but is this something anybody asked for? The signal is always so great in NYC I never even want WiFi. This just seems like a largely pointless intrusion in service of selling more and more targeted ads.
        morgante 10y ago
        Not everyone can afford (large) data plans. Look at some of the other comments in this thread for anecdotes of people enjoying the free access. Also, your experience with service definitely doesn't match my own. There might always be a signal, but it's not always very fast...
        jolux 10y ago
        Well this is in comparison to my home in rural Vermont where the signal is always very spotty. I realize people enjoy it but ultimately this was not voted on and thus saying "you asked for it therefore you must deal with the compromise" is a bit shitty. I think I'd enjoy it too if I didn't know the tradeoff, and even then gigabit WiFi would be pretty cool. However Google are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, if they were they would not put ads on it. Of course then the taxpayers would have to foot the bill, which would be severely unjust considering the undemocratic nature of this product's implementation in NYC.

jolux 10y ago

And what makes you think the author of that article has any control over the business model of the publication they're writing for? Are we not allowed to criticize ad tech online in ad supported venues? Because all of the most popular venues are ad supported. If you want a voice, you have to make compromises.

ucaetano 10y ago
"If you want a voice, you have to make compromises." "If you want free wifi, you have to make compromises."
- jolux 10y ago
  Yes and who wanted free WiFi exactly? Bill DeBlasio?
  - ucaetano 10y ago
    Apparently everyone who's using it.
    - jolux 10y ago
      Yes and if you gave everyone a free sandwich they'd probably eat it too, but if you do that you can't then say "but you asked for a free sandwich" when you reveal that you actually captured everyone's personal details for advertising purposes.
      - ucaetano 10y ago
        Most people would give up their personal details for a free sandwich.
unethical_ban 10y ago
A digital ocean VPS is $5 a month. Is village voice.com really that big a draw?
- throwanem 10y ago
  Reporters and printing presses rarely run $5 a month.
- pjc50 10y ago
  Presumably villagevoice actually pay their writers?
  - morgante 10y ago
    Presumably installing free wifi kiosks actually costs money.
    - jolux 10y ago
      Yeah but is this something anybody asked for? The signal is always so great in NYC I never even want WiFi. This just seems like a largely pointless intrusion in service of selling more and more targeted ads.
      - morgante 10y ago
        Not everyone can afford (large) data plans. Look at some of the other comments in this thread for anecdotes of people enjoying the free access. Also, your experience with service definitely doesn't match my own. There might always be a signal, but it's not always very fast...
        jolux 10y ago
        Well this is in comparison to my home in rural Vermont where the signal is always very spotty. I realize people enjoy it but ultimately this was not voted on and thus saying "you asked for it therefore you must deal with the compromise" is a bit shitty. I think I'd enjoy it too if I didn't know the tradeoff, and even then gigabit WiFi would be pretty cool. However Google are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, if they were they would not put ads on it. Of course then the taxpayers would have to foot the bill, which would be severely unjust considering the undemocratic nature of this product's implementation in NYC.