4 ms·

Will they also untrain the machine learning model that they've fed all of this data into to predict exactly what kind of ads are most likely to get you to spend

Will they also untrain the machine learning model that they've fed all of this data into to predict exactly what kind of ads are most likely to get you to spend money? How about slurping up data for users who don't have an account but send a ping to google on every goddamn page on the internet?

skybrian 7y ago
There's a leap in logic there. Some ads may be harmful, but if so, they shouldn't be used at all.
andrepd 7y ago
uBlock with dynamic filtering takes care of that for me, but I recognise it isn't practical for >95% of internet users.
- the_duke 7y ago
  I use uMatrix, but the amount of sites where you need to allow Google domains and cookies for reCaptcha to work is depressing.
  - andrepd 7y ago
    And then you will be "punished" for being off the grid, and the images will take 8 seconds to fade out and fade in...
    - luckylion 7y ago
      Glad I'm not the only one hating this. Especially with lots of captchas in a row it's super annoying - "yeah, it's the same browser, same cookie, same IP, doing the tenth captcha in 10 minutes, all previous tests succeeded ... better make sure to look extra closely and slow it down".
    - Simon_says 7y ago
      I've experienced this too. Are you saying Google's algorithms know (or at least strongly suspect) I'm human but throttle me anyways because I've taken steps to protect my privacy? Out of spite?
      - judge2020 7y ago
        Probably not, the issue is that headless browser bots take the same precautions of preventing Google knows anything about them as you and other privacy-conscious users do.
user17843 7y ago
Google is not allowed to collect PII data of users who visit google services without registering. So everytime you delete your cookies, you are a new user, and they also are not allowed to log the ip address of non-users indefinitely.
- Sir_Cmpwn 7y ago
  Do you have a source, or any evidence that they don't? Google doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. This is literally their business model.
  - user17843 7y ago
    I think this is basically the GDPR rules, but I would need to look into the details more.
    - mtgx 7y ago
      Translation: American users are f-ed.
    - LostJourneyman 7y ago
      GDPR is not enforceable in the US, so this is applicable only to the EU. In the US AFIAK Google can collect anything that you consent to.
    - bduerst 7y ago
      You're right - Article 3 of GDPR defines the scope as applying to any user residing in the EU. If the users are not logged in then you don't know where they reside (IP address != residence), meaning any international company that operates in the EU needs to err on the side of caution for non-logged in users everywhere.
      - jefftk 7y ago
        IP address geolocation is the normal way people determine if GDPR applies.
saulrh 7y ago
From someone else's post up-thread: "In general models trained on individual users' data get rebuilt when the underlying data changes so as to properly reflect the current state of the source data." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19809346 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19809346

skybrian 7y ago

There's a leap in logic there. Some ads may be harmful, but if so, they shouldn't be used at all.

andrepd 7y ago

uBlock with dynamic filtering takes care of that for me, but I recognise it isn't practical for >95% of internet users.

the_duke 7y ago
I use uMatrix, but the amount of sites where you need to allow Google domains and cookies for reCaptcha to work is depressing.
- andrepd 7y ago
  And then you will be "punished" for being off the grid, and the images will take 8 seconds to fade out and fade in...
  - luckylion 7y ago
    Glad I'm not the only one hating this. Especially with lots of captchas in a row it's super annoying - "yeah, it's the same browser, same cookie, same IP, doing the tenth captcha in 10 minutes, all previous tests succeeded ... better make sure to look extra closely and slow it down".
  - Simon_says 7y ago
    I've experienced this too. Are you saying Google's algorithms know (or at least strongly suspect) I'm human but throttle me anyways because I've taken steps to protect my privacy? Out of spite?
    - judge2020 7y ago
      Probably not, the issue is that headless browser bots take the same precautions of preventing Google knows anything about them as you and other privacy-conscious users do.

user17843 7y ago

Google is not allowed to collect PII data of users who visit google services without registering. So everytime you delete your cookies, you are a new user, and they also are not allowed to log the ip address of non-users indefinitely.

Sir_Cmpwn 7y ago
Do you have a source, or any evidence that they don't? Google doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. This is literally their business model.
- user17843 7y ago
  I think this is basically the GDPR rules, but I would need to look into the details more.
  - mtgx 7y ago
    Translation: American users are f-ed.
  - LostJourneyman 7y ago
    GDPR is not enforceable in the US, so this is applicable only to the EU. In the US AFIAK Google can collect anything that you consent to.
  - bduerst 7y ago
    You're right - Article 3 of GDPR defines the scope as applying to any user residing in the EU. If the users are not logged in then you don't know where they reside (IP address != residence), meaning any international company that operates in the EU needs to err on the side of caution for non-logged in users everywhere.
    - jefftk 7y ago
      IP address geolocation is the normal way people determine if GDPR applies.

saulrh 7y ago

From someone else's post up-thread: "In general models trained on individual users' data get rebuilt when the underlying data changes so as to properly reflect the current state of the source data." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19809346 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19809346