4 ms·

I bet many would be willing to be tracked in exchange for a free desktop/laptop It takes 2 to tango. Always.

by GDC7 5y ago

Jtsummers 5y ago
This was done in the past. "Internet appliances", I don't recall any being free but they were inexpensive and paired with free/cheap (for the time) internet service. Netzero was also an ISP that offered free internet funded by ads. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_appliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_appliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetZero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetZero
- syntaxing 5y ago
  Wow that was a blast to the past! I remember my dad trying it out because AOL was getting too expensive for us to sustain. Good times!
ethbr0 5y ago
It's a great point and intersects interestingly with winner-take-all markets (like social networking). If there is likely to be only one social network (broadly speaking), then does that opine on whether that network can choose to be ad+tracking funded and free, or paid? And is it in the best interest of the public to force it to be the other, too?
- GDC7 5y ago
  > If there is likely to be only one social network (broadly speaking), then does that opine on whether that network can choose to be ad+tracking funded and free, or paid? I think it's immaterial. You can't legislate Power's Law into submission. Winner take all type market are the dictionary definition of Power's law. They produce the most exhilarating wins (eg. Google, Facebook) and the most brutal losses (Yahoo! , MySpace). Another thing about Power's Law and this type of markets is that they receive almost all the attention, whereas stuff like constructions, pipelining, ports, airports don't get the same attention
  - ethbr0 5y ago
    You can't effectively legislate competition, but you can legislate monopoly behavior. And I think it would be a hard sell to convince me that saying "If you run a company with greater than Y users / market share / etc. then you must offer a paid option that optionally disables all tracking."
    - GDC7 5y ago
      No, I don't think you can. You can't legislate luck which spurred the monopoly. You'd just move the problem elsewhere (eg. in another sector of the economy or within government)
      - ethbr0 5y ago
        That's a risk, but not a fundamental limitation. The government can mandate whatever is within the bounds of the laws its passed (and its constitution). Unintended consequences are a reason to wield power judiciously and incrementally, not a reason to avoid wielding it at all.

I bet many would be willing to be tracked in exchange for a free desktop/laptop It takes 2 to tango. Always.

by GDC7 5y ago

I bet many would be willing to be tracked in exchange for a free desktop/laptop It takes 2 to tango. Always.

This was done in the past. "Internet appliances", I don't recall any being free but they were inexpensive and paired with free/cheap (for the time) internet service. Netzero was also an ISP that offered free internet funded by ads. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_appliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_appliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetZero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetZero

syntaxing 5y ago
Wow that was a blast to the past! I remember my dad trying it out because AOL was getting too expensive for us to sustain. Good times!

ethbr0 5y ago

It's a great point and intersects interestingly with winner-take-all markets (like social networking). If there is likely to be only one social network (broadly speaking), then does that opine on whether that network can choose to be ad+tracking funded and free, or paid? And is it in the best interest of the public to force it to be the other, too?

GDC7 5y ago
> If there is likely to be only one social network (broadly speaking), then does that opine on whether that network can choose to be ad+tracking funded and free, or paid? I think it's immaterial. You can't legislate Power's Law into submission. Winner take all type market are the dictionary definition of Power's law. They produce the most exhilarating wins (eg. Google, Facebook) and the most brutal losses (Yahoo! , MySpace). Another thing about Power's Law and this type of markets is that they receive almost all the attention, whereas stuff like constructions, pipelining, ports, airports don't get the same attention
- ethbr0 5y ago
  You can't effectively legislate competition, but you can legislate monopoly behavior. And I think it would be a hard sell to convince me that saying "If you run a company with greater than Y users / market share / etc. then you must offer a paid option that optionally disables all tracking."
  - GDC7 5y ago
    No, I don't think you can. You can't legislate luck which spurred the monopoly. You'd just move the problem elsewhere (eg. in another sector of the economy or within government)
    - ethbr0 5y ago
      That's a risk, but not a fundamental limitation. The government can mandate whatever is within the bounds of the laws its passed (and its constitution). Unintended consequences are a reason to wield power judiciously and incrementally, not a reason to avoid wielding it at all.