> Comparing google to big tobacco is very flawed That actually a completely fair observation, this should only be targeted at the part of their business that d

> Comparing google to big tobacco is very flawed That actually a completely fair observation, this should only be targeted at the part of their business that does data collection. Google could do very well without their large scale tracking. Tracking and data collection must bring in a significant amount though. It's a rather large liability and attack vector for lawmakers and critics. If it was just a few percent of overall profit, it would sense to just dump that business unit. Generally the whole targeted ad business is a little weird. If it works so well as we led to believe, then way aren't there fewer ads. It seems reasonable to assume that a highly targeted ad would be more successful, but also more expensive to buy. You'd need few of them of reach your target customers and I as a consumer should see fewer ads. That's a little besides the point though.