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Wouldn't the death of tailored advertising hurt early-stage startups a lot (caveat: I'm one of them)? When you're a tiny operation, you can't spend millions on

Wouldn't the death of tailored advertising hurt early-stage startups a lot (caveat: I'm one of them)? When you're a tiny operation, you can't spend millions on a broad fishing net and hope somebody will match your ideal customer. Having the ability to precisely target who sees your ads is a great way to get some initial momentum and traction, without going under.

jkubicek 6y ago
> Such measures should include a phase-out leading to a prohibition of targeted advertising on the basis of pervasive tracking It sounds like targeted advertising based on a user's behavior on a specific site would still be allowed? i.e. I watch a lot of backpacking videos on Youtube, show me backpacking gear advertisements on youtube.
- diggernet 6y ago
  Target the context, not the user. In your case, don't watch your behavior on YouTube, just put the ads on backpacking videos.
- godelski 6y ago
  Right? I research products when I buy them and I'm more than happy to have ads on. I think a lot of people don't understand the real reasons I (and many others) use an adblocker though. 1) malvertising is a common attack vector and I can't trust most sites 2) tracking scripts 3) ads are fashy and distracting with popups and popunders 4) page load times are substantially faster. As long as there are enough bad actors in the space I'll keep doing it, but right now those bad actors include every major website (hitting all 4 points). Show me relevant ads to the topic at hand, don't shove it in my face, don't play sounds or be flashy, don't track me, don't put a billion scripts on your website, just respect me.
McDyver 6y ago
Honest question: As a company, would you think "I don't care about the users' privacy, I want a marketing company that gives me as much of my target audience as possible"? Would you care how that marketing company got the users' information? How would you feel as a user? Are you always interested in being a "consumer" and willing to have your habits sold so you are the target of ads? How does your target audience feel?
- krelian 6y ago
  I'm a user and I prefer to see targeted ads instead of generic crap. I prefer to get recommendations that are based on my known preferences. I like the idea that my data helps makes services better. I also like to have the option to use some services for "free" instead of paying. I would like to have total transparency about which personal information was used to target me so that I can opt-out of sharing a certain piece of information if I'm so inclined. I would like to have the ability to revoke access to my personal information from companies that I don't personally like. ------ I understand the anti-ad/privacy fanatics and share most of the values but the extreme end sins in too much short-sightedness and hypocrisy. Understand that if your will becomes reality day 1 will be a very different day from what you had in mind. In the meantime put your money where your mouth is and stop using any services that uses users' private data for improving the product: search, maps, youtube, twitter... you're pretty much left with Wikipedia. Oh, and thank you for the cookie bars, great addition.
  - McDyver 6y ago
    You make some valid points; I would disagree with the term "privacy fanatics", though. Privacy is a human right, and you seem to be putting the burden on the user to protect it, rather than on the companies to stop abusing it. We live in "1st world countries" - I assume you do too - and we have the luxury of having regulations that allow us to opt out of some things, but others might not be so fortunate; I believe we should lead the way in preventing people from being products. It might be a pipe dream, but things are obviously not working at the moment
  - Forbo 6y ago
    Seeing generic crap helps me to ignore the consumerist propaganda that's being hurled at me from all angles. It's easier to recognize it for what it is: an attempt to exert undue influence over my decision making.
godelski 6y ago
Targeted advertising has always existed and always will, the difference is micro targeting. Google originally made all its revenue from targeted advertising. You search for books? Get sponsored ads for Amazon and Barnes and Noble. A big thing is that this kind of advertising isn't invasive on user privacy. I don't feel like my privacy is invaded when I see ads for NordVPN when watching YouTube videos nor Rocket Mortgage when listening to podcasts.

jkubicek 6y ago

> Such measures should include a phase-out leading to a prohibition of targeted advertising on the basis of pervasive tracking It sounds like targeted advertising based on a user's behavior on a specific site would still be allowed? i.e. I watch a lot of backpacking videos on Youtube, show me backpacking gear advertisements on youtube.

diggernet 6y ago
Target the context, not the user. In your case, don't watch your behavior on YouTube, just put the ads on backpacking videos.
godelski 6y ago
Right? I research products when I buy them and I'm more than happy to have ads on. I think a lot of people don't understand the real reasons I (and many others) use an adblocker though. 1) malvertising is a common attack vector and I can't trust most sites 2) tracking scripts 3) ads are fashy and distracting with popups and popunders 4) page load times are substantially faster. As long as there are enough bad actors in the space I'll keep doing it, but right now those bad actors include every major website (hitting all 4 points). Show me relevant ads to the topic at hand, don't shove it in my face, don't play sounds or be flashy, don't track me, don't put a billion scripts on your website, just respect me.

McDyver 6y ago

Honest question: As a company, would you think "I don't care about the users' privacy, I want a marketing company that gives me as much of my target audience as possible"? Would you care how that marketing company got the users' information? How would you feel as a user? Are you always interested in being a "consumer" and willing to have your habits sold so you are the target of ads? How does your target audience feel?

krelian 6y ago
I'm a user and I prefer to see targeted ads instead of generic crap. I prefer to get recommendations that are based on my known preferences. I like the idea that my data helps makes services better. I also like to have the option to use some services for "free" instead of paying. I would like to have total transparency about which personal information was used to target me so that I can opt-out of sharing a certain piece of information if I'm so inclined. I would like to have the ability to revoke access to my personal information from companies that I don't personally like. ------ I understand the anti-ad/privacy fanatics and share most of the values but the extreme end sins in too much short-sightedness and hypocrisy. Understand that if your will becomes reality day 1 will be a very different day from what you had in mind. In the meantime put your money where your mouth is and stop using any services that uses users' private data for improving the product: search, maps, youtube, twitter... you're pretty much left with Wikipedia. Oh, and thank you for the cookie bars, great addition.
- McDyver 6y ago
  You make some valid points; I would disagree with the term "privacy fanatics", though. Privacy is a human right, and you seem to be putting the burden on the user to protect it, rather than on the companies to stop abusing it. We live in "1st world countries" - I assume you do too - and we have the luxury of having regulations that allow us to opt out of some things, but others might not be so fortunate; I believe we should lead the way in preventing people from being products. It might be a pipe dream, but things are obviously not working at the moment
- Forbo 6y ago
  Seeing generic crap helps me to ignore the consumerist propaganda that's being hurled at me from all angles. It's easier to recognize it for what it is: an attempt to exert undue influence over my decision making.

godelski 6y ago

Targeted advertising has always existed and always will, the difference is micro targeting. Google originally made all its revenue from targeted advertising. You search for books? Get sponsored ads for Amazon and Barnes and Noble. A big thing is that this kind of advertising isn't invasive on user privacy. I don't feel like my privacy is invaded when I see ads for NordVPN when watching YouTube videos nor Rocket Mortgage when listening to podcasts.