11 ms·

Is this really the reason people block ads? I don't actually mind tracking as part of a useful service (like Google Maps). I block ads because they're 1) annoy

by blfr 10y ago

Is this really the reason people block ads? I don't actually mind tracking as part of a useful service (like Google Maps). I block ads because they're 1) annoying 2) funding mass media. Depriving Bezos' WaPo or Slim's NYT of revenue is definitely a feature. If billionaires want to push propaganda, the least they can do is foot the bill. Tracking is a distant third. If an outlet I cared about ran ads, I'd white-list them. It just so happens that valuable sites like HN or developers' blogs either don't feature ads or do so in a way that adblockers don't interfere with (look at job posts here).

jtrip 10y ago
I personally block adds, not because of annoyance, but because of tracking. I find private collection of information a bigger threat than I do government tracking. I like neither, but given the option, I would rather be tracked by the government. I am not accusing the OP of any bias or failing in ideals, just pointing out an interesting perspective on things that I got from reading [0]. 'Mistrust of government is pretty much universal, and that’s a good thing. Outside of the United States, however, people trust corporations even less.' [0]http://www.disruptingjapan.com/how-ubers-failure-in-japan-can-help-startups-everywhere/ http://www.disruptingjapan.com/how-ubers-failure-in-japan-ca...
- blfr 10y ago
  > I find private collection of information a bigger threat than I do government tracking Why?
  - jtrip 10y ago
    Because the inherent idea is control of power. One would trust a small company over the government because the small company can't do much damage with only that much data, whereas the government can, combined with all the other data. The small company can earn more money, what we can rely on given that they are in it for the money, with helping us with the data than they can by selling the data. How ever, as the company grows, or uses a system developed and controlled by a larger entity, the data being collected can be combined with other larger data sets and can become much more powerful and potentially hurtful for us. In the same scenario, the power of the government has still remained the same, and given the history of Power, we the common people have some measure of control over them. More control than one would have over the large corporation.
    - blakeyrat 10y ago
      Hurtful how? I admit I've really never understood that part of the argument. To go with your example, ok, you have tracking data with a dozen smaller companies you've done transactions with online. Now they all merge and become one huge company, all that data is combined. How were you hurt by this action?
      - dhimes 10y ago
        It gives the company power over you, either to raise your insurance rates because you like pork rinds, or to embarrass you or your underage sister because you've been linked and she just had an abortion. And like we're learning from facebook, there's a herd immunity component to it. If I vaccinate myself against tracking but you don't, you can infect me anyway. It's a really shitty thing to do, and the problem we as a society face are people who are unable to abstract the idea into the dangers we can all face and protect ourselves against dangers we can't foresee. That's what principles are for. We stand on basic principles of privacy and freedom because if we don't we get into a nonlinear mess of unintended and unforseen consequences- and we don't even know it. Just like the deer that doesn't even know it's being hunted, we are in this game and don't even know what's eventually at stake. So we should stop it now. I'm ok with banner ads. I'm not ok with tracking.
      - vertex-four 10y ago
        People have a right to privacy, and there's social expectations which ensure that people generally have it. Generally speaking, people don't like it when other people spend huge amounts of effort trying to learn things about them that they would prefer not to share. It's more-or-less equivalent to if someone spent all their time looking through your trash and monitoring you 24/7 to learn if you're pregnant, what meds you're on, how much money you spend in a week, etc etc.
        blakeyrat 10y ago
        Well right, but that's not what I'm asking. The claim is that collating lots of small data sets together can cause harm to a person. That's what I'm asking about.
  - ww520 10y ago
    Asymmetric information put you at a disadvantage when you deal with them.
witty_username 10y ago
If you don't want to fund mass media, why are you reading it? Reading it implies it has some value.
- blfr 10y ago
  The same reason browser exploits are valuable: I cannot scrutinize every site I will visit in a second. Links pop up here, on Twitter, on IRC... It requires constant attention which is something computers are much better at than humans. Also, I don't mind reading Bezos' blog. He doesn't need a tip jar though.
- pessimizer 10y ago
  I read all kinds of things that I wouldn't want to fund. I read things that I would pay to get unpublished. I've spent hours reading Stormfront and Breitbart. I've even read Tom Friedman, god help me. You don't listen to anybody you wouldn't pay? I listen to people I would pay to have behind bars.
andwur 10y ago
1) security 2) annoyance 3) disagree with tracking 4) speed (rural internet yay!) I find it particularly annoying when clients demand adverts on paid-product sites, i.e. they have a site which is fully funded by their sales but they want that tiny bit extra at a huge cost to site appearance and load times.
- dhimes 10y ago
  Yup. I pay for the WaPo subscription. I don't mind banner ads, but I don't allow tracking.
Hoasi 10y ago
True. Ad blocking is also a stance against advertising per se. Reasons to block ads that may come before the tracking issue for a lot of people. In no particular order: - Plain dislike of ads - Miss targeted ads are (even more) annoying - Malware - Getting rid of visual clutter (from an aesthete's perspective) - Irrelevance - Browser speed - Attempt to remove distraction - Boycott / meaning harming a particular organisation’s finances - A combination of those - … But tracking awareness is growing and resistance understandable. As users profiling grow, their liberty decrease.
protomyth 10y ago
> Is this really the reason people block ads? I block ads mostly because they take up a lot of bandwidth and I don't have an unlimited amount on my cell. Plus, many ad networks don't seem to protect the users from malevolent javascript. I also block Flash for the same reason. I'm not opposed to ads, I'm opposed to auto-play video script fests that try to sell me the thing I just browsed on Amazon.

by blfr 10y ago

jtrip 10y ago

I personally block adds, not because of annoyance, but because of tracking. I find private collection of information a bigger threat than I do government tracking. I like neither, but given the option, I would rather be tracked by the government. I am not accusing the OP of any bias or failing in ideals, just pointing out an interesting perspective on things that I got from reading [0]. 'Mistrust of government is pretty much universal, and that’s a good thing. Outside of the United States, however, people trust corporations even less.' [0]http://www.disruptingjapan.com/how-ubers-failure-in-japan-can-help-startups-everywhere/ http://www.disruptingjapan.com/how-ubers-failure-in-japan-ca...

blfr 10y ago
> I find private collection of information a bigger threat than I do government tracking Why?
- jtrip 10y ago
  Because the inherent idea is control of power. One would trust a small company over the government because the small company can't do much damage with only that much data, whereas the government can, combined with all the other data. The small company can earn more money, what we can rely on given that they are in it for the money, with helping us with the data than they can by selling the data. How ever, as the company grows, or uses a system developed and controlled by a larger entity, the data being collected can be combined with other larger data sets and can become much more powerful and potentially hurtful for us. In the same scenario, the power of the government has still remained the same, and given the history of Power, we the common people have some measure of control over them. More control than one would have over the large corporation.
  - blakeyrat 10y ago
    Hurtful how? I admit I've really never understood that part of the argument. To go with your example, ok, you have tracking data with a dozen smaller companies you've done transactions with online. Now they all merge and become one huge company, all that data is combined. How were you hurt by this action?
    - dhimes 10y ago
      It gives the company power over you, either to raise your insurance rates because you like pork rinds, or to embarrass you or your underage sister because you've been linked and she just had an abortion. And like we're learning from facebook, there's a herd immunity component to it. If I vaccinate myself against tracking but you don't, you can infect me anyway. It's a really shitty thing to do, and the problem we as a society face are people who are unable to abstract the idea into the dangers we can all face and protect ourselves against dangers we can't foresee. That's what principles are for. We stand on basic principles of privacy and freedom because if we don't we get into a nonlinear mess of unintended and unforseen consequences- and we don't even know it. Just like the deer that doesn't even know it's being hunted, we are in this game and don't even know what's eventually at stake. So we should stop it now. I'm ok with banner ads. I'm not ok with tracking.
    - vertex-four 10y ago
      People have a right to privacy, and there's social expectations which ensure that people generally have it. Generally speaking, people don't like it when other people spend huge amounts of effort trying to learn things about them that they would prefer not to share. It's more-or-less equivalent to if someone spent all their time looking through your trash and monitoring you 24/7 to learn if you're pregnant, what meds you're on, how much money you spend in a week, etc etc.
      - blakeyrat 10y ago
        Well right, but that's not what I'm asking. The claim is that collating lots of small data sets together can cause harm to a person. That's what I'm asking about.
- ww520 10y ago
  Asymmetric information put you at a disadvantage when you deal with them.

witty_username 10y ago

If you don't want to fund mass media, why are you reading it? Reading it implies it has some value.

blfr 10y ago
The same reason browser exploits are valuable: I cannot scrutinize every site I will visit in a second. Links pop up here, on Twitter, on IRC... It requires constant attention which is something computers are much better at than humans. Also, I don't mind reading Bezos' blog. He doesn't need a tip jar though.
pessimizer 10y ago
I read all kinds of things that I wouldn't want to fund. I read things that I would pay to get unpublished. I've spent hours reading Stormfront and Breitbart. I've even read Tom Friedman, god help me. You don't listen to anybody you wouldn't pay? I listen to people I would pay to have behind bars.

andwur 10y ago

1) security 2) annoyance 3) disagree with tracking 4) speed (rural internet yay!) I find it particularly annoying when clients demand adverts on paid-product sites, i.e. they have a site which is fully funded by their sales but they want that tiny bit extra at a huge cost to site appearance and load times.

dhimes 10y ago
Yup. I pay for the WaPo subscription. I don't mind banner ads, but I don't allow tracking.

Hoasi 10y ago

True. Ad blocking is also a stance against advertising per se. Reasons to block ads that may come before the tracking issue for a lot of people. In no particular order: - Plain dislike of ads - Miss targeted ads are (even more) annoying - Malware - Getting rid of visual clutter (from an aesthete's perspective) - Irrelevance - Browser speed - Attempt to remove distraction - Boycott / meaning harming a particular organisation’s finances - A combination of those - … But tracking awareness is growing and resistance understandable. As users profiling grow, their liberty decrease.

protomyth 10y ago

> Is this really the reason people block ads? I block ads mostly because they take up a lot of bandwidth and I don't have an unlimited amount on my cell. Plus, many ad networks don't seem to protect the users from malevolent javascript. I also block Flash for the same reason. I'm not opposed to ads, I'm opposed to auto-play video script fests that try to sell me the thing I just browsed on Amazon.