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Targeted ads degrade user experiences for me because it's a reminder that someone or something that I don't know, knows about me. It's as if a stranger came up
by not_kurt_godel 7y ago
Targeted ads degrade user experiences for me because it's a reminder that someone or something that I don't know, knows about me.
It's as if a stranger came up to you on the street, knew what brand of toilet paper you used at home, and asked if you wanted to buy more because you're almost out. Naturally you would wonder how this stranger knows these facts about you - do they snoop in your trash? Do they observe you in the bathroom through the window? Do they come in your home while you're away? We would consider such a world where this was normal to be Kafka-esque and dystopic. Anyone who gives an iota of care about personal privacy and dignity could (and arguably should) find implementation of the digital equivalent equally repulsive.
- robbrown451 7y agoYou say "someone or something," and to me, that's a pretty big difference. I don't care if things know about me. If there is an actual human being who is directly looking at me, associating it with my face, etc, that is a lot more bothersome than some machine that is doing that. I understand that many people here don't make that distinction. I do care about privacy in some ways, but when you I "arguably should" find machines invading my privacy to repulsive, I guess I have to thank you for putting the word "arguably" in there, because I would argue that. It just doesn't bother me, and I am happier for not having one more thing to be bothered by.
- not_kurt_godel 7y agoI agree that there's a difference, but it's not necessarily one that the primal part of my brain cares about, regardless of what I know at a conscious/intellectual level. Furthermore, data that a machine knows is just one step away from becoming data that a human knows given sufficient curiosity or happenstance; a step into which you usually have no insight into whether or if it will occur.
- robbrown451 7y agoYeah, I hear ya, I guess my primal brain is different than yours. For instance, sometimes I feel a bit embarrassed by what I purchase at a store. (even if it's just that I'm buying a lot of junky, easy-to-prepare food at the grocery store) I've never once felt that way checking out at Amazon. Not even a teensy tiny bit. And that would remain true even if I suspected (or knew) that some human at Amazon was looking closely at the orders.
- not_kurt_godel 7y agoBuying something at a store isn't a good analogy. Uninterested members of the public being able to casually observe you buy something at the store is a perfectly normal part of society. A better analogy for today's internet is if you walked to the store holding a big sign with your credit card bill, texts to your friends, and a list of places you went today printed on it, and the street on the way was packed with people who were there for the sole purpose of taking pictures of that sign and selling them to whoever will buy. Targeted advertising would be the people who bought those pictures knocking on your door.
- robbrown451 7y agoSeems like a pretty extreme analogy, but ok. Having someone knock on my door is kind of a pain, since I have to get up and answer it. I'm not sure it is comparable to seeing ads on web sites that I am on by choice. I guess I have enough concerns in my life that actually have measurable impacts on me that such things seem pretty trivial.