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This is a right move by Google. - Even for adults, ad targeting based on gender or age (or race) seems… wrong? - Would like them to come out and assume all pe

This is a right move by Google. - Even for adults, ad targeting based on gender or age (or race) seems… wrong? - Would like them to come out and assume all personalization and recommendation systems they have also waive this for children. E.g.: YouTube recommendations are based solely on similar videos versus profile, location, viewing habits, whatever other magic they probably do.

aaomidi 5y ago
Honestly disabling all ad targeting has been the best thing I've done.
- asteroidbelt 5y ago
  Is your browsing experience better now? Or you think it makes world a better place? I like certain ads. For example, I often click of property ads just to learn what they are building in the city I live, what is the price range etc. Because one day I'm going to buy. Of course I'd prefer no ads, but better this than random junk IMO.
  - aaomidi 5y ago
    I would argue my browsing experience is better ~ I do enjoy seeing the random junk because that also doesn't make my brain think about "hmm maybe I would like to buy that". Even if I actively avoid thinking about an ad I saw, it still impacts my psyche.
asteroidbelt 5y ago
> Even for adults, ad targeting based on gender or age (or race) seems… wrong? Wrong how? I don't mind ads target based on my gender (e.g. male suits, not cocktail dresses), age (no teenager sneakers), race (probably not interested in Diwali party). But practically it doesn't matter anyway. The neural network will learn my gender, age and race based on my previous behavior. It will be encoded in trained data, but not explicitly visible. And because of that modern ads developers don't actually need sex, age and race parameters, it won't make targeting better.
- Tenoke 5y ago
  Depends on how much data they have on each person but typically adding variables that can be mostly inferred still usually improve model behavior by a little bit overall.

aaomidi 5y ago

Honestly disabling all ad targeting has been the best thing I've done.

asteroidbelt 5y ago
Is your browsing experience better now? Or you think it makes world a better place? I like certain ads. For example, I often click of property ads just to learn what they are building in the city I live, what is the price range etc. Because one day I'm going to buy. Of course I'd prefer no ads, but better this than random junk IMO.
- aaomidi 5y ago
  I would argue my browsing experience is better ~ I do enjoy seeing the random junk because that also doesn't make my brain think about "hmm maybe I would like to buy that". Even if I actively avoid thinking about an ad I saw, it still impacts my psyche.

asteroidbelt 5y ago

> Even for adults, ad targeting based on gender or age (or race) seems… wrong? Wrong how? I don't mind ads target based on my gender (e.g. male suits, not cocktail dresses), age (no teenager sneakers), race (probably not interested in Diwali party). But practically it doesn't matter anyway. The neural network will learn my gender, age and race based on my previous behavior. It will be encoded in trained data, but not explicitly visible. And because of that modern ads developers don't actually need sex, age and race parameters, it won't make targeting better.

Tenoke 5y ago
Depends on how much data they have on each person but typically adding variables that can be mostly inferred still usually improve model behavior by a little bit overall.