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Don't ISPs like Comcast have access to orders of magnitude fewer users? I think it has to do with scale and the fact the Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data
by sykh 9y ago
Don't ISPs like Comcast have access to orders of magnitude fewer users? I think it has to do with scale and the fact the Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data and not, it seems, Comcast data. Overall Facebook is just the focal point of the ire. The ire though is really not Facebook as such but rather unregulated data collection by private companies.
- ocdtrekkie 9y agoYes. Google and Facebook both have global reach and billions of users, but they also spend millions of dollars on PR to convince you the ISPs are the real privacy threat. The author's LinkedIn includes recently working for a law firm, Fenwick & West, which proudly brags about Google being one of their clients on their career page. If an article is doing "whataboutism" that minimizes the danger of big tech, check their resume, it's probably their job.
- zjaffee 9y agoYes, they have far less users, but they also have a much longer history when it comes to user tracking and measurement in the name of ad targeting. Although I think the big difference is they can't do network analysis. This said, Comcast (which owns NBC universal), has been able to use cable boxes to improve ad targeting for decades, trace that back to internet usage, and apply it to models already built for NBC usage. A n even more powerful one though is Verizon, where with their now acquisition of yahoo can use that data as well, which is combined with both all of the home data collection comcast has, but with 80+ million mobile users as well.
- reaperducer 9y ago> Don't ISPs like Comcast have access to orders of magnitude fewer users? Yes, but because it's your ISP and your data it's snooping, it suddenly becomes important. As they say, one death is a tragedy. A thousand deaths is a statistic.