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When I see "We value your privacy" I know instantly something shady is going on. The only thing I'll accept is a "Accept" and "Reject all" button next to each o

by tyfon 8y ago

When I see "We value your privacy" I know instantly something shady is going on. The only thing I'll accept is a "Accept" and "Reject all" button next to each other without further clicks. My list of web sites that I actually visit gets smaller and smaller. I have a shortlist and for most of them I pay to remove ads if they have the option and I have all kinds of ad-blocking installed both on the network level and browser level.

friendly_chap 8y ago
You are absolutely right, but the sad reality is that we are a small minority. Perhaps we can influence the world by education though.
- FiveSquared 8y ago
  Well education is a lost cause due to the masses being overworked/ overstressed / overwhelmed/undereducated /etc. I have seen people who write down their password in paper and carry them around. If people can’t remover secure passwords, how are they gonna protect their privacy?
dman 8y ago
Time to go back to books and newspapers for information? :)
- tyfon 8y ago
  No there are still websites that you can pay for and I pay whenever I can. Right now I pay for a local news paper, youtube premium (then ad-block the crap out of it), resetera and di.fm (music). HN doesn't have ads afaik and if it does or try to track me it's blocked. I'd pay for a tracking-free version if that was necessary though. But I do read a lot of books, approximately two a week :) I also play games quite a bit. And I know I can't escape tracking entirely (ip tracking ++) but can be damn sure I will try my hardest!
  - fauigerzigerk 8y ago
    Paying doesn't appear to help one bit. They track you just like before, only now they know your real identity. I'm sure there are exceptions to this general observation, but I haven't found many (apart from some rare VPNs)
    - tyfon 8y ago
      Yes but then I don't have to feel bad for blocking all ads. If I get value out of a site I don't want to freeload.
      - packet_nerd 8y ago
        In what sense is an adblocker freeloading? They voluntarily delivered content to my device, in my home. What I do with it after that is my business and no one else's. It's not freeloading in any sense if I serve my breakfast cereal from mason jars instead of the box. It's not if I tear out pages I don't want to see from a book or if I dump the ad leaflet from the newspaper or credit card offers in the trash. It's not freeloading if I mute the radio during political attack ads. Why should it be any different on my computer screen? My grandma got an iPad, and was using the calculator app to do her finances. I had a chuckle when I saw she had suck a sticky note over the ad. :-) Do you really see that as freeloading? Its my house, my stuff, I can do with it exactly as I please, and there is absolutely no sense in which those companies have a "right" to my attention or in which I have some moral obligation to give it. To suggest otherwise sounds like a plot from a science fiction movie. I think Black Mirror had an episode like that.
        tyfon 8y ago
        No it's not freeloading.. What I mean is that some sites actually provide value to me so I want to pay them back somehow, but not with ad revenue. 99% of the places I don't feel bad for "freeloading". It was probably a poor choice of a word.

by tyfon 8y ago

friendly_chap 8y ago

You are absolutely right, but the sad reality is that we are a small minority. Perhaps we can influence the world by education though.

FiveSquared 8y ago
Well education is a lost cause due to the masses being overworked/ overstressed / overwhelmed/undereducated /etc. I have seen people who write down their password in paper and carry them around. If people can’t remover secure passwords, how are they gonna protect their privacy?

dman 8y ago

Time to go back to books and newspapers for information? :)

tyfon 8y ago
No there are still websites that you can pay for and I pay whenever I can. Right now I pay for a local news paper, youtube premium (then ad-block the crap out of it), resetera and di.fm (music). HN doesn't have ads afaik and if it does or try to track me it's blocked. I'd pay for a tracking-free version if that was necessary though. But I do read a lot of books, approximately two a week :) I also play games quite a bit. And I know I can't escape tracking entirely (ip tracking ++) but can be damn sure I will try my hardest!
- fauigerzigerk 8y ago
  Paying doesn't appear to help one bit. They track you just like before, only now they know your real identity. I'm sure there are exceptions to this general observation, but I haven't found many (apart from some rare VPNs)
  - tyfon 8y ago
    Yes but then I don't have to feel bad for blocking all ads. If I get value out of a site I don't want to freeload.
    - packet_nerd 8y ago
      In what sense is an adblocker freeloading? They voluntarily delivered content to my device, in my home. What I do with it after that is my business and no one else's. It's not freeloading in any sense if I serve my breakfast cereal from mason jars instead of the box. It's not if I tear out pages I don't want to see from a book or if I dump the ad leaflet from the newspaper or credit card offers in the trash. It's not freeloading if I mute the radio during political attack ads. Why should it be any different on my computer screen? My grandma got an iPad, and was using the calculator app to do her finances. I had a chuckle when I saw she had suck a sticky note over the ad. :-) Do you really see that as freeloading? Its my house, my stuff, I can do with it exactly as I please, and there is absolutely no sense in which those companies have a "right" to my attention or in which I have some moral obligation to give it. To suggest otherwise sounds like a plot from a science fiction movie. I think Black Mirror had an episode like that.
      - tyfon 8y ago
        No it's not freeloading.. What I mean is that some sites actually provide value to me so I want to pay them back somehow, but not with ad revenue. 99% of the places I don't feel bad for "freeloading". It was probably a poor choice of a word.