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What if Google is so entrenched in this position because they see a ton of evidence? What if Google is “right”? I tried out Google’s non-personalized ads for

What if Google is so entrenched in this position because they see a ton of evidence? What if Google is “right”? I tried out Google’s non-personalized ads for a while, and wow the ads were bad, especially on YouTube. Not like irrelevant but downright obnoxious. But wait, we’ve seen this before! A couple years ago, Google noticed that ads were starting to get downright atrocious and started fighting them. One relevant blog post: https://blog.google/technology/ads/building-better-web-everyone/ https://blog.google/technology/ads/building-better-web-every... Why Google oh why are ads so bad? Because advertisers got more evil? Yes and no. Google got more evil advertisers as all the good ad money went to Facebook’s properties. 2012 https://www.emarketer.com/newsroom/index.php/google-edges-closer-facebook-display-advertising-twohorse-race/ https://www.emarketer.com/newsroom/index.php/google-edges-cl... 2019 https://www.emarketer.com/chart/217028/facebook-vs-google-share-of-total-us-digital-ad-spending-2016-2020-of-total-digital-ad-spending https://www.emarketer.com/chart/217028/facebook-vs-google-sh... Google’s recent blogpost is frustratingly “right”: given the opportunity cost of bad ads, an average user is better off opting in to higher-quality tracking-targeted ads. BUT! That is only because Google the ad company lost the good content. And sadly, Google the software company owns the browser, so they have to make do in a Google world. This isn’t even an issue about privacy. It’s about a company overtly misrepresenting the interests of its users in bad faith. No different than Uber tacking on the $1 “safe rides” fee as a pure margin generator rather than as protection for riders.

burnaway 7y ago
You need to consider some users A) don't want to see ads at all (exhibit A: lot of posters in this thread) B) rather see "dumb" ads than personalized one if it comes through individual level tracking and profiling (that's me). From this perspective no amount of evidence can convince me they are "right" and I have no wish to contribute in any way to "betterment of ad quality" for the price it is proposed. This is comment is no reflection on the rest of your argument btw, just addressing the premise.
- feanaro 7y ago
  > You need to consider some users A) don't want to see ads at all Exactly. I'm really stupefied with arguments that I'm "better off" by opting for tracking ads. Why am I better off? What good does it do to me? It almost seems like these arguments are coming from some other world which I am not living in.
  - Ambele 7y ago
    I think some ads are good. Specifically the kind that informs you of something new. Sometimes when I see an ad with a trailer for a new movie in theaters, I'm appreciative that I learned a movie that I wouldn't have otherwise known about.

burnaway 7y ago

You need to consider some users A) don't want to see ads at all (exhibit A: lot of posters in this thread) B) rather see "dumb" ads than personalized one if it comes through individual level tracking and profiling (that's me). From this perspective no amount of evidence can convince me they are "right" and I have no wish to contribute in any way to "betterment of ad quality" for the price it is proposed. This is comment is no reflection on the rest of your argument btw, just addressing the premise.

feanaro 7y ago
> You need to consider some users A) don't want to see ads at all Exactly. I'm really stupefied with arguments that I'm "better off" by opting for tracking ads. Why am I better off? What good does it do to me? It almost seems like these arguments are coming from some other world which I am not living in.
- Ambele 7y ago
  I think some ads are good. Specifically the kind that informs you of something new. Sometimes when I see an ad with a trailer for a new movie in theaters, I'm appreciative that I learned a movie that I wouldn't have otherwise known about.