Targeted ads have famously led to less blog spam and SEO shenanigans, and a more useful web… You said this stuff built the web but the web existed before the w

Targeted ads have famously led to less blog spam and SEO shenanigans, and a more useful web… You said this stuff built the web but the web existed before the wholesale harvesting and sale of personal data. Businesses which rely solely on personal data as a revenue stream would have to change their model. Businesses which rely on advertising which does so would have to change as well. No one advertises “randomly”. Yes, non-targeted ads are less valuable than personally targeted ads. That’s sort of how that whole bit works. So? This idea that there are parts of the web that are so useful but can somehow only be funded with 24/7 surveillance is absurd.