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I don't understand how people can build such a system. Yes, you. I don't understand how people in the thread are debating the merits of advertisement, as if tha

I don't understand how people can build such a system. Yes, you. I don't understand how people in the thread are debating the merits of advertisement, as if that is what matters here. 1984 is here, and we all love Big Brother. I mean this 100%: if you are participating in ad tech, collecting data on grandmothers in large databases, quit your job now. You are doing harm.

umanwizard 10y ago
You just repeated your conclusion over and over without giving any non-emotional evidence that it's actually harmful. I work for a company that makes a lot of money selling targeted ads. If I thought it was harming people, I wouldn't work there. But you haven't convinced me of that.
- astazangasta 10y ago
  I'm not sure I intended to convince you, as opposed to merely expressing my emotional response, via this short Internet comment, and I'm not sure I can. I'm merely vocalizing my antipathy to a phenomenon I see around me every day, and that I feel is causing active harm, but that frequently passes without examination or moral outrage. I want you to know that I exist, that my position exists, first, since you should at least acknowledge that I am here in your own mind before you will consider my argument. But in brief: while you are making a lot of money selling targeted ads by enabling an apparatus that collates detailed information about the lives of everyone on the planet, where they live, how they live, who they speak to, other people are creating machines and systems of murder that increase the power to kill and persecute based on this kind of surveillance. The 20th century was replete with histories of people who used systems of surveillance to terrorize, persecute and kill hundreds of millions of people. The technology you are building is not only likely to be, but IS being used to this purpose today. I implore you to stop. What you're building is a system of power and control. It is immensely dangerous. I don't imagine I will convince you through this, or any comment I can make here, but maybe I can provoke a kernel of doubt.

umanwizard 10y ago

You just repeated your conclusion over and over without giving any non-emotional evidence that it's actually harmful. I work for a company that makes a lot of money selling targeted ads. If I thought it was harming people, I wouldn't work there. But you haven't convinced me of that.

astazangasta 10y ago
I'm not sure I intended to convince you, as opposed to merely expressing my emotional response, via this short Internet comment, and I'm not sure I can. I'm merely vocalizing my antipathy to a phenomenon I see around me every day, and that I feel is causing active harm, but that frequently passes without examination or moral outrage. I want you to know that I exist, that my position exists, first, since you should at least acknowledge that I am here in your own mind before you will consider my argument. But in brief: while you are making a lot of money selling targeted ads by enabling an apparatus that collates detailed information about the lives of everyone on the planet, where they live, how they live, who they speak to, other people are creating machines and systems of murder that increase the power to kill and persecute based on this kind of surveillance. The 20th century was replete with histories of people who used systems of surveillance to terrorize, persecute and kill hundreds of millions of people. The technology you are building is not only likely to be, but IS being used to this purpose today. I implore you to stop. What you're building is a system of power and control. It is immensely dangerous. I don't imagine I will convince you through this, or any comment I can make here, but maybe I can provoke a kernel of doubt.