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If Firefox and Safari implement this API but set it to return a hardcoded generic set of "interests" for everyone, that seems like a pretty good outcome to me.

If Firefox and Safari implement this API but set it to return a hardcoded generic set of "interests" for everyone, that seems like a pretty good outcome to me. Chrome users can "enjoy" personalized ads and everyone else gets better privacy. I don't object to seeing adverts, I do object to having all my personal data hoovered up by ad-brokers.

MaxBarraclough 6y ago
> set it to return a hardcoded generic set of "interests" for everyone That wouldn't improve privacy over simply not supporting the protocol at all.
- ForHackernews 6y ago
  It would if it means advertisers use that protocol instead of devising a zillion underhanded workarounds (html5 canvas fingerprinting, proxying third-party cookies as first-party, etc.)
- arepublicadoceu 6y ago
  What if, we will have a new form of “this site works better on chrome”? By this I mean, check if protocol returns something, else, “this site only works on chrome”. This would effectively force, Firefox at least, to implement this protocol. A version of this protocol with randomly generated data might be better for the user.
  - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
    Thankfully, major websites know that 'Chrome only' isn't an option. Alienating all Safari users isn't something they'd be willing to consider.
jsty 6y ago
> implement this API but set it to return a hardcoded generic set of "interests" for everyone Or just let people select their own interests. There's quite a few (particularly news / media) sites I'd be fine in disabling an ad-blocker on if the ads I was served were in any way useful to me rather than bottom-of-the-barrel "one weird trick"s
hedora 6y ago
Better, they could return interests that maximize revenue for the sites you visit. I imagine a distributed machine learning algorithm could probe floc with random categories, and hill climb using the results of auctions.
- marmaduke 6y ago
  sounds like a future violation of terms of service..
  - hedora 6y ago
    I don’t agree to their non-consensual tracking TOS.
nemoniac 6y ago
Ooh, that sounds like fun! How about returning some kind of randomized set of interests, or one of various curated sets, or even adversarial ones. You could even select from several personas.

MaxBarraclough 6y ago

> set it to return a hardcoded generic set of "interests" for everyone That wouldn't improve privacy over simply not supporting the protocol at all.

ForHackernews 6y ago
It would if it means advertisers use that protocol instead of devising a zillion underhanded workarounds (html5 canvas fingerprinting, proxying third-party cookies as first-party, etc.)
arepublicadoceu 6y ago
What if, we will have a new form of “this site works better on chrome”? By this I mean, check if protocol returns something, else, “this site only works on chrome”. This would effectively force, Firefox at least, to implement this protocol. A version of this protocol with randomly generated data might be better for the user.
- MaxBarraclough 6y ago
  Thankfully, major websites know that 'Chrome only' isn't an option. Alienating all Safari users isn't something they'd be willing to consider.

jsty 6y ago

> implement this API but set it to return a hardcoded generic set of "interests" for everyone Or just let people select their own interests. There's quite a few (particularly news / media) sites I'd be fine in disabling an ad-blocker on if the ads I was served were in any way useful to me rather than bottom-of-the-barrel "one weird trick"s

hedora 6y ago

Better, they could return interests that maximize revenue for the sites you visit. I imagine a distributed machine learning algorithm could probe floc with random categories, and hill climb using the results of auctions.

marmaduke 6y ago
sounds like a future violation of terms of service..
- hedora 6y ago
  I don’t agree to their non-consensual tracking TOS.

nemoniac 6y ago

Ooh, that sounds like fun! How about returning some kind of randomized set of interests, or one of various curated sets, or even adversarial ones. You could even select from several personas.