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If you create a website that users pay for and it becomes popular, somebody will come along and create an Ad funded version and take some or all of your users (

If you create a website that users pay for and it becomes popular, somebody will come along and create an Ad funded version and take some or all of your users (assuming everything else is equal). I have no problem with this whatsoever. I have no problem with advertising. What I do have a problem with is advertisers tracking people across websites, and that all of the major browser vendors are happy to facilitate/encourage this. If all of the major browser vendors just tied third party cookies to the domain of the top level origin, this sort of cross site tracking would be blocked, with the bare minimum of damage. It wouldn't kill advertising, it would just stop advertisers compiling data that they didn't ask permission for. There are of course lots of other tricks to track users even if they turn off third party cookies altogether. But lets at least try to get the low hanging fruit first, please. EDIT: It would probably help if the major browser vendors didn't make large sums of money from this sort of advertising. Talk about a conflict of interest. It would be better for everyone if the evolution of the web wasn't so heavily guided by advertisers.

uxp 15y ago
What I do have a problem with is advertisers tracking people across websites, and that all of the major browser vendors are happy to facilitate/encourage this. I think everyone has a problem with this to a degree. I'm ok with Google giving me personal search results and Facebook recommending me products based on recent wall posts. What I'm not ok with is my Fiancé searching for wedding ideas one night on her laptop at home, and the next day having all the website ads being shown to me from a particular ad network on my iPhone being wedding related while connected to my home WiFi. This really happened to me 2 weeks ago. I expect a certain amount of privacy, for both her and myself. Nothing needs to be written in law that says that I cannot be tracked, but there should be a moral code on what kinds of ads are displayed and where they will be displayed. If advertiser networks can't develop a system that isn't invasive then they need to go away, via adblock or otherwise.
- Retric 15y ago
  Targeted advertising done well can be helpful, and I realize the only thing making these connections is a computer program some where. Yet, while I don't mind reminders that a movie I might like is out, there is something innately creepy about being tracked like that. PS: Progress is being made on the creepy front. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.h...
- bad_user 15y ago
  To add to your point, the problem with cross-website tracking is that it breaks the mental model that people have about these web services. For instance, one would expect for Google to know everything you searched for. I don't think that anybody is naive enough to not realize it, even non-technical users. So if you're searching for something and you don't want Google to find out about it, then the simplest thing you can do is to NOT search on Google. And the problem with cross-website tracking is that this model breaks. Now Google / Facebook know what websites you visit, even if you were careful about not searching on Google, or not sharing/following links on Facebook. It's pretty scary actually.

uxp 15y ago

What I do have a problem with is advertisers tracking people across websites, and that all of the major browser vendors are happy to facilitate/encourage this. I think everyone has a problem with this to a degree. I'm ok with Google giving me personal search results and Facebook recommending me products based on recent wall posts. What I'm not ok with is my Fiancé searching for wedding ideas one night on her laptop at home, and the next day having all the website ads being shown to me from a particular ad network on my iPhone being wedding related while connected to my home WiFi. This really happened to me 2 weeks ago. I expect a certain amount of privacy, for both her and myself. Nothing needs to be written in law that says that I cannot be tracked, but there should be a moral code on what kinds of ads are displayed and where they will be displayed. If advertiser networks can't develop a system that isn't invasive then they need to go away, via adblock or otherwise.

Retric 15y ago
Targeted advertising done well can be helpful, and I realize the only thing making these connections is a computer program some where. Yet, while I don't mind reminders that a movie I might like is out, there is something innately creepy about being tracked like that. PS: Progress is being made on the creepy front. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.h...
bad_user 15y ago
To add to your point, the problem with cross-website tracking is that it breaks the mental model that people have about these web services. For instance, one would expect for Google to know everything you searched for. I don't think that anybody is naive enough to not realize it, even non-technical users. So if you're searching for something and you don't want Google to find out about it, then the simplest thing you can do is to NOT search on Google. And the problem with cross-website tracking is that this model breaks. Now Google / Facebook know what websites you visit, even if you were careful about not searching on Google, or not sharing/following links on Facebook. It's pretty scary actually.