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The opportunity cost of the advertising industry is incalculable. Entire industries are snuffed because kingpin ad networks can make a few dollars per year per

The opportunity cost of the advertising industry is incalculable. Entire industries are snuffed because kingpin ad networks can make a few dollars per year per person by having a free app with ads in that space. Less choice for the consumer, less competition, lower quality.

jraby3 3y ago
There are pretty clear benefits to some advertising. Email, YouTube, calendar, maps are all incredibly useful services we are lucky to have. There needs to be a line or safeguard as well as an option to pay a reasonable price for these free services to keep your data safe. YouTube is unfairly overpriced for the ad free option as are most of these free services.
- srcreigh 3y ago
  The greatest loss of the 21st century is how far behind we are in all the industries you list. Not to mention news. The option to pay today’s kingpin isn’t any recompense.
- fangorn 3y ago
  Maybe it's nothing, or maybe it's freudian, but email existed before Google, so did calendar. Youtube was an acquisition. Maps, well, there are great alternatives now that do not require anal-probe-level surveillance to find an address or a route. Just publicly fund the services that are useful to people. If "government" (i.e. us) can pay for a square for people to meet at, why not "digital spaces"? And if someone's thinking "but government will use this data to surveil people!" - this ship has sailed, they have access to everything that's not e2ee, and even that's not guaranteed. Government is practically the only body that can be expected to follow laws and act with people's best interest in mind. Some governments even do, just need a non-dystopian one... And yes, there's commercial space in government/local authority-operated places. That's fine, just make sure to boot those that decide to install the equivalent of cameras and microphones on their storefront.
  - cscurmudgeon 3y ago
    > Youtube was an acquisition And the relied on VC money before that. It wasn't self-sustaining financially.
- rollcat 3y ago
  Email and calendar were doing perfectly fine before pervasive online tracking. Have you checked OpenStreetMaps? It may lag behind Google or Apple for things like shop opening hours, but I'd choose it 11 out of 10 times over anything else when going hiking in the mountains. Feels like every stone is marked. YouTube? This one is a tough call. It was generating losses for a decade, maybe a decade and a half. Perhaps it should've been a publicly funded service. If you enjoyed this comment, please like and subscribe.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > Email, YouTube, calendar, maps are all incredibly useful services we are lucky to have. None of which require advertising.
- pulpfictional 3y ago
  That needs money, not advertising.
cm2012 3y ago
What you're saying is: people prefer free products with ads and that annoys you because you prefer paying for products without ads. That's not a moral issue.
- srcreigh 3y ago
  Enough people use for free products, free products take over, paid products no longer exist (or reduced options by 50x), free products stagnate, we end up behind on quality of services by a long shot.

jraby3 3y ago

There are pretty clear benefits to some advertising. Email, YouTube, calendar, maps are all incredibly useful services we are lucky to have. There needs to be a line or safeguard as well as an option to pay a reasonable price for these free services to keep your data safe. YouTube is unfairly overpriced for the ad free option as are most of these free services.

srcreigh 3y ago
The greatest loss of the 21st century is how far behind we are in all the industries you list. Not to mention news. The option to pay today’s kingpin isn’t any recompense.
fangorn 3y ago
Maybe it's nothing, or maybe it's freudian, but email existed before Google, so did calendar. Youtube was an acquisition. Maps, well, there are great alternatives now that do not require anal-probe-level surveillance to find an address or a route. Just publicly fund the services that are useful to people. If "government" (i.e. us) can pay for a square for people to meet at, why not "digital spaces"? And if someone's thinking "but government will use this data to surveil people!" - this ship has sailed, they have access to everything that's not e2ee, and even that's not guaranteed. Government is practically the only body that can be expected to follow laws and act with people's best interest in mind. Some governments even do, just need a non-dystopian one... And yes, there's commercial space in government/local authority-operated places. That's fine, just make sure to boot those that decide to install the equivalent of cameras and microphones on their storefront.
- cscurmudgeon 3y ago
  > Youtube was an acquisition And the relied on VC money before that. It wasn't self-sustaining financially.
rollcat 3y ago
Email and calendar were doing perfectly fine before pervasive online tracking. Have you checked OpenStreetMaps? It may lag behind Google or Apple for things like shop opening hours, but I'd choose it 11 out of 10 times over anything else when going hiking in the mountains. Feels like every stone is marked. YouTube? This one is a tough call. It was generating losses for a decade, maybe a decade and a half. Perhaps it should've been a publicly funded service. If you enjoyed this comment, please like and subscribe.
JohnFen 3y ago
> Email, YouTube, calendar, maps are all incredibly useful services we are lucky to have. None of which require advertising.
pulpfictional 3y ago
That needs money, not advertising.

cm2012 3y ago

What you're saying is: people prefer free products with ads and that annoys you because you prefer paying for products without ads. That's not a moral issue.

srcreigh 3y ago
Enough people use for free products, free products take over, paid products no longer exist (or reduced options by 50x), free products stagnate, we end up behind on quality of services by a long shot.