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This letter lost me really early on: >> "There is little trustworthy evidence on the comparative value of tracking-based advertising." This is flat out wrong.
by standyro 7y ago
This letter lost me really early on:
>> "There is little trustworthy evidence on the comparative value of tracking-based advertising."
This is flat out wrong. Google and Facebook have proven that there are BILLIONS of dollars on the table for the value of "tracking-based advertising"
As an engineer who used to work in ad-tech, making appeals to reason to these companies won't help. There's a lot of money flowing in this sector, and unless large internet companies see the value in changing their ad-based business models, the only thing that will dissuade them are shifts in public opinion, laws, and policy.
Or a rearchitecture of the web, which I'm all for :)
- kodablah 7y ago> This is flat out wrong Only if you assume value == money. The question is not whether advertisers will pay extra for tracking-based advertising (your definition of "value"), the question is whether they are getting what they're paying extra for (what others are considering "value"). That someone pays for extra for something doesn't not necessarily mean it's worth it.
- amazingman 7y agoWhile I agree with you philosophically, you are using a different definition of “value” than the parent, i.e. you are talking past the point of the parent comment.
- prepend 7y agoNo value to users. I don’t get value out of tracking-based advertising. The best ads are still search-term based where ads help me find. There’s no to little evidence that tracking based ads benefit the user. (although it’s clear that it makes tons for advertisers)
- harry8 7y ago> (although it’s clear that it makes tons for advertisers) Is it? Please link! Thanks.
- necovek 7y agoYou missed the argument: are there billions of dollars more over non-privacy-invading advertising? That's what we need data for before trusting any hand-waving argument. Google are in an ideal position to test this and publish results on (eg. A/B testing on ad selection method). Not that we'd really trust them completely, but at least we'd have something to go off. :)
- inapis 7y agoThere are studies which say targeted advertising is just 4% more effective than non-privacy-invading advertising.[1] [1] https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/31/targeted-ads-offer-little-extra-value-for-online-publishers-study-suggests/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/31/targeted-ads-offer-little-...