3 ms·

Call me crazy, but I expect an icon to behave as an icon, and a film to behave as a film.

abydos62 8y ago
Alternately, really any visual screen space, including an icon, can be an acceptable target for innovation - its when the technology used opens avenues for other things to be done by unscrupulous or malicious actors that it becomes a problem. People introducing new functionality need to be incentivized to focus on sand-boxing it in some way before we accept it as a web-standard tech. Barring that, limiting functionality is preferable. But business is business, so adequate measures are generally not taken, either out of cost-saving, or deliberately. Also, these types of irresponsible practices now constitute an indispensable core of how large modern web-apps work. They exist in a moral gray area, where it can be argued that problematic practices are outweighed by their net benefit to user experience, and misuses of the technology can be blamed on malicious outside actors who have found a loophole. If you build a giant information weapon, you are also culpable for any of its misuses, no matter how unintended they might be. I currently don't see a way of changing things without some kind of regulation, as problematic government interference can be. The incentives here are possibly too strong for the market to sort it out, at the current state of public awareness. Current efforts in the US seem to be focusing on pressuring companies to self-regulate, but they have still have little real incentive to do so. Another complicating factor may be the rate in which innovation arises in the tech sector - most burgeoning industries spend some time in a regulatory wild-west, but as the issues become known, laws gradually catch up and a status-quo is reached. Now, its possible that by the time any technology has matured enough to have a widespread regulatory harness applied to it, another technology has already superseded it, and the regulatory void is renewed.
- HenryBemis 8y ago
  Your use of the word "target" scares me :) As RawTruthHurts stated: "Call me crazy, but I expect an icon to behave as an icon.." I too am one of those people that draw lines in the sand, and when these lines are crossed I make it my business to kick them out (adblockers, hosts file, VPN, firewall). I do this to keep my headspace intact, or with the minimum noise. Market (aka profit) drives things, and it is a greedy monster with infinite appetite. There are many willing to "innovate" (flash ads were considered as innovation once)(so was medicine). Since it is a cat-mouse/bigger mousetrap game, regulation will always be 10 steps behind, meanwhile we need to maintain our sanity and find ways to keep these distractions at bay. My time is my time, I don't want to see a movie in an icon. Glad to know the technology is there (perhaps focus on curing cancer instead???), and not everything needs to be redefined, so that <insert-ad-company-name> can display more ads.

Alternately, really any visual screen space, including an icon, can be an acceptable target for innovation - its when the technology used opens avenues for other things to be done by unscrupulous or malicious actors that it becomes a problem. People introducing new functionality need to be incentivized to focus on sand-boxing it in some way before we accept it as a web-standard tech. Barring that, limiting functionality is preferable. But business is business, so adequate measures are generally not taken, either out of cost-saving, or deliberately. Also, these types of irresponsible practices now constitute an indispensable core of how large modern web-apps work. They exist in a moral gray area, where it can be argued that problematic practices are outweighed by their net benefit to user experience, and misuses of the technology can be blamed on malicious outside actors who have found a loophole. If you build a giant information weapon, you are also culpable for any of its misuses, no matter how unintended they might be. I currently don't see a way of changing things without some kind of regulation, as problematic government interference can be. The incentives here are possibly too strong for the market to sort it out, at the current state of public awareness. Current efforts in the US seem to be focusing on pressuring companies to self-regulate, but they have still have little real incentive to do so. Another complicating factor may be the rate in which innovation arises in the tech sector - most burgeoning industries spend some time in a regulatory wild-west, but as the issues become known, laws gradually catch up and a status-quo is reached. Now, its possible that by the time any technology has matured enough to have a widespread regulatory harness applied to it, another technology has already superseded it, and the regulatory void is renewed.

HenryBemis 8y ago
Your use of the word "target" scares me :) As RawTruthHurts stated: "Call me crazy, but I expect an icon to behave as an icon.." I too am one of those people that draw lines in the sand, and when these lines are crossed I make it my business to kick them out (adblockers, hosts file, VPN, firewall). I do this to keep my headspace intact, or with the minimum noise. Market (aka profit) drives things, and it is a greedy monster with infinite appetite. There are many willing to "innovate" (flash ads were considered as innovation once)(so was medicine). Since it is a cat-mouse/bigger mousetrap game, regulation will always be 10 steps behind, meanwhile we need to maintain our sanity and find ways to keep these distractions at bay. My time is my time, I don't want to see a movie in an icon. Glad to know the technology is there (perhaps focus on curing cancer instead???), and not everything needs to be redefined, so that <insert-ad-company-name> can display more ads.