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If you peel away the buzzwords, FLOC is basically just your browser tracking you, and telling advertisers which ads you are most likely to click on. Google clai

by yarcob 5y ago

If you peel away the buzzwords, FLOC is basically just your browser tracking you, and telling advertisers which ads you are most likely to click on. Google claims to do this in a way that preserves your privacy, but ultimately these are empty promises. There is no way to spy on people without being creepy. Many (most?) people don't want to be tracked at all, "privately" or not. It's such a pity that online advertising has turned in this direction. It started out so well intentioned! Search ads showed ads related to your search, Google adwords showed ads related to the content of the page you viewed. No invasive tracking necessary! And now we have come to this. Tracking everyone everywhere has become so pervasive that an operating system vendor has just announced this week that they are building a first party VPN into the OS in a desparate attempt to reduce this ubiquitous tracking...

hyperhopper 5y ago
> There is no way to spy on people without being creepy. What "creepy" is, is an entirely subjective opinion that changes from person to person. I'd say there are totally ways. When I go to a grocery store and swipe that card for a discount, I know it's just being used to correlate purchases and track me, but I don't view it as creepy at all. All they got from me was my payment information, but they literally already have that, they get that every time I swipe my credit card anyway. So what is creepy about me explicitly awknowleding I'm being tracked in a reasonable way when I'm in their store?
- yarcob 5y ago
  > I know it's just being used to correlate purchases and track me, but I don't view it as creepy at all. The creepy part is when people do things without telling you. That stores keep a record of your purchases when you swipe the card is probably not creepy. I'd assume most people assume that's what happens. But if they then share the information they collected on you with others, without asking for your explicit permission, that's where it's starting to get creepy. I'm not sure Chrome users are aware that their browser tracks every website they visit, create a profile on you, and then share that profile (in a supposedly privacy preserving way) with others.
- deleted 5y ago
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visarga 5y ago
If advertising can change ads based on FLOC id, then what would prevent content publishers from displaying different versions to different FLOC ids? It could empower deception, outright discrimination, group cancellations and censure. Will the truth be dependent on your FLOC id?

by yarcob 5y ago

hyperhopper 5y ago

> There is no way to spy on people without being creepy. What "creepy" is, is an entirely subjective opinion that changes from person to person. I'd say there are totally ways. When I go to a grocery store and swipe that card for a discount, I know it's just being used to correlate purchases and track me, but I don't view it as creepy at all. All they got from me was my payment information, but they literally already have that, they get that every time I swipe my credit card anyway. So what is creepy about me explicitly awknowleding I'm being tracked in a reasonable way when I'm in their store?

yarcob 5y ago
> I know it's just being used to correlate purchases and track me, but I don't view it as creepy at all. The creepy part is when people do things without telling you. That stores keep a record of your purchases when you swipe the card is probably not creepy. I'd assume most people assume that's what happens. But if they then share the information they collected on you with others, without asking for your explicit permission, that's where it's starting to get creepy. I'm not sure Chrome users are aware that their browser tracks every website they visit, create a profile on you, and then share that profile (in a supposedly privacy preserving way) with others.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

visarga 5y ago

If advertising can change ads based on FLOC id, then what would prevent content publishers from displaying different versions to different FLOC ids? It could empower deception, outright discrimination, group cancellations and censure. Will the truth be dependent on your FLOC id?