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"Nice browser yous gots there... would be a shame if something were to happen to it, eh? Like if some ads was to get put on the pages... 10 bucks a month, me an
by jff 15y ago
"Nice browser yous gots there... would be a shame if something were to happen to it, eh? Like if some ads was to get put on the pages... 10 bucks a month, me and my boys 'take care of' that for yous". The Google Protection Racket
- akkartik 15y agoTo elaborate on this great point: Say google gives you the option to pay $10/mo and not see adsense ads. Say a lot of people love that option and take advantage of it. Ad inventory goes down. Cost of ads goes up. Google looks at the price of an ad it could be showing you and goes, "why am I charging just $10?" Price of not seeing ads goes up, or even becomes its own auction. This is how you can end up in a protection racket without meaning to.
- Cushman 15y agoWhat makes it qualitatively different from typical subscription-or-ad-supported services?
- jff 15y agoI would be a little put off if Google were to sell ads, then turn around and sell the opportunity to never see those ads. Seems wrong, like they're saying to the advertisers "Oh sure, we'll get your great ads out right away, all of our customers will see them!" and then saying to the rest of us, "If you're sick of those annoying ads (which we put up), just pay us and we'll make them go away!"