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> To me, its any time a company uses the data against me, in order to make me spend money or buy products. Genuine question - have you had many experiences whe

> To me, its any time a company uses the data against me, in order to make me spend money or buy products. Genuine question - have you had many experiences where you bought something due to a highly targeted ad and shortly after regretted the purchase?

dkersten 6y ago
Not knowingly, in that I don't remember ever clicking on such an advert and then purchasing something. But its impossible to tell if they've primed me to buy something later. But just because I try to be vigilant and also try to block adverts, doesn't mean that I should be ok with them having my data. Just because they haven't figured out a way to trick me yet doesn't mean they won't later or that they won't become even more egregious later. Besides, its a business model I find unethical, so I want to distance myself from it as much as possible, and them not having data on me is part of that.
- rattray 6y ago
  Got it. Yeah, I find highly-targeted ads to be creepy as well, and started using ffx with adblock for all browsing. I use Chrome for logged-in web use (gmail, fb, etc). I don't get relevant ads anymore, but instead I get lowest-common-denominator ads. It's... worse! I don't like the idea of targeted ads, but the consequence feels pretty minimal I have to say. The worst thing that happens is I buy a product that I turn out not to be happy with / wasn't worth the money? If regretted purchases were rampant it'd be a problem worth solving, but it doesn't seem to be. Just some thoughts I've been exploring. I'm not exactly planning on going back to wilfully being tracked.
  - dkersten 6y ago
    It’s not really about regretted purchases for me than it is about giving some corporation that power over us. Additionally, the internet has become a cesspool if advertising and google is a huge part of causing that. It’s also that google is serving adverts for scams, malware or just exploitative garbage. I also feel that while you and I may be doing ok avoiding this stuff, many people don’t including old people and children. That’s not ok. I know that’s off topic here, but the more data google and about us, the less likely it will be that we can protect ourselves or others from this.

dkersten 6y ago

Not knowingly, in that I don't remember ever clicking on such an advert and then purchasing something. But its impossible to tell if they've primed me to buy something later. But just because I try to be vigilant and also try to block adverts, doesn't mean that I should be ok with them having my data. Just because they haven't figured out a way to trick me yet doesn't mean they won't later or that they won't become even more egregious later. Besides, its a business model I find unethical, so I want to distance myself from it as much as possible, and them not having data on me is part of that.

rattray 6y ago
Got it. Yeah, I find highly-targeted ads to be creepy as well, and started using ffx with adblock for all browsing. I use Chrome for logged-in web use (gmail, fb, etc). I don't get relevant ads anymore, but instead I get lowest-common-denominator ads. It's... worse! I don't like the idea of targeted ads, but the consequence feels pretty minimal I have to say. The worst thing that happens is I buy a product that I turn out not to be happy with / wasn't worth the money? If regretted purchases were rampant it'd be a problem worth solving, but it doesn't seem to be. Just some thoughts I've been exploring. I'm not exactly planning on going back to wilfully being tracked.
- dkersten 6y ago
  It’s not really about regretted purchases for me than it is about giving some corporation that power over us. Additionally, the internet has become a cesspool if advertising and google is a huge part of causing that. It’s also that google is serving adverts for scams, malware or just exploitative garbage. I also feel that while you and I may be doing ok avoiding this stuff, many people don’t including old people and children. That’s not ok. I know that’s off topic here, but the more data google and about us, the less likely it will be that we can protect ourselves or others from this.