4 ms·

If there was any company that I would trust less with a web browser (and related user data) than an ad-tech company, it would be an AI company.

spandrew 1y ago
A social media ad company would be the least favourable. At least Google's central ad business is based off of search queries the user gives to them willingly for value.
- athenot 1y ago
  I think google amasses far more information via website analytics, Gmail and SSO (Log in with Google) than "willingly"-input search queries.
- marcosdumay 1y ago
  They have no lack of attempts to change their central business into a social media ad company, tough. They just failed.
- rpgbr 1y ago
  This was the case, like, 20 years ago. Google is effectively an ad company that makes tech — including a browser — to gather more data from users and sell ads.
Zambyte 1y ago
Perplexity is also an ad-tech company.
- lukaslevert 1y ago
  That has yet to do any successful ads at scale**
  - Zambyte 1y ago
    I would be extremely surprised if they don't get kickback through their existing shopping features. It's just well integrated, so it doesn't look like advertisements.
mrweasel 1y ago
Basically anyone who would want to make an offer for Chrome should be banned for purchasing it. It's not a profitable business to be in, and Perplexity would just do the exact same thing that might force Google to sell Chrome. The only companies that should be allowed to buy Chrome are non-profits and companies promising to sell it for a fee (preferably not a subscription).
- nicce 1y ago
  > The only companies that should be allowed to buy Chrome are non-profits and companies promising to sell it for a fee (preferably not a subscription). I am not sure if a single fee works. Browsers are too important and hard to maintain. What if people had paid single fee for Chrome 15 years ago for non-profit?
  - mrweasel 1y ago
    You could charge for upgrades.
    - nicce 1y ago
      I don't think that it works with browsers. Otherwise web standards will not progress very well, since everyone tries to support the first Chrome version for their website. We create even more friction than having different browsers already has.
      - mrweasel 1y ago
        My take is the reverse. It would slow down development of web standard, which is a good thing, and allow competitors to develop and catch up. We want more browser engines, and slowing down development, e.g. to yearly, every two, or every three year for major releases would go a long way to ensure that.
        nicce 1y ago
        > We want more browser engines, and slowing down development, e.g. to yearly, every two, or every three year for major releases would go a long way to ensure that. Maybe you forget why we want more browser engines? It is not that we want the same standards rewritten differently. We want more competition, so that we get new ideas and alternatives. Maybe others don't have to catch up, since some standards or practices are currently dictated by Google and not seen as good in general.
trentnix 1y ago
Isn't Perplexity the AI company that has been accused of ignoring robots.txt and requests not to data harvest?
- Hamuko 1y ago
  It is. They do go further than just ignoring robots.txt too. https://blog.cloudflare.com/perplexity-is-using-stealth-undeclared-crawlers-to-evade-website-no-crawl-directives/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/perplexity-is-using-stealth-unde...

spandrew 1y ago

A social media ad company would be the least favourable. At least Google's central ad business is based off of search queries the user gives to them willingly for value.

athenot 1y ago
I think google amasses far more information via website analytics, Gmail and SSO (Log in with Google) than "willingly"-input search queries.
marcosdumay 1y ago
They have no lack of attempts to change their central business into a social media ad company, tough. They just failed.
rpgbr 1y ago
This was the case, like, 20 years ago. Google is effectively an ad company that makes tech — including a browser — to gather more data from users and sell ads.

Zambyte 1y ago

Perplexity is also an ad-tech company.

lukaslevert 1y ago
That has yet to do any successful ads at scale**
- Zambyte 1y ago
  I would be extremely surprised if they don't get kickback through their existing shopping features. It's just well integrated, so it doesn't look like advertisements.

mrweasel 1y ago

Basically anyone who would want to make an offer for Chrome should be banned for purchasing it. It's not a profitable business to be in, and Perplexity would just do the exact same thing that might force Google to sell Chrome. The only companies that should be allowed to buy Chrome are non-profits and companies promising to sell it for a fee (preferably not a subscription).

nicce 1y ago
> The only companies that should be allowed to buy Chrome are non-profits and companies promising to sell it for a fee (preferably not a subscription). I am not sure if a single fee works. Browsers are too important and hard to maintain. What if people had paid single fee for Chrome 15 years ago for non-profit?
- mrweasel 1y ago
  You could charge for upgrades.
  - nicce 1y ago
    I don't think that it works with browsers. Otherwise web standards will not progress very well, since everyone tries to support the first Chrome version for their website. We create even more friction than having different browsers already has.
    - mrweasel 1y ago
      My take is the reverse. It would slow down development of web standard, which is a good thing, and allow competitors to develop and catch up. We want more browser engines, and slowing down development, e.g. to yearly, every two, or every three year for major releases would go a long way to ensure that.
      - nicce 1y ago
        > We want more browser engines, and slowing down development, e.g. to yearly, every two, or every three year for major releases would go a long way to ensure that. Maybe you forget why we want more browser engines? It is not that we want the same standards rewritten differently. We want more competition, so that we get new ideas and alternatives. Maybe others don't have to catch up, since some standards or practices are currently dictated by Google and not seen as good in general.

trentnix 1y ago

Isn't Perplexity the AI company that has been accused of ignoring robots.txt and requests not to data harvest?

Hamuko 1y ago
It is. They do go further than just ignoring robots.txt too. https://blog.cloudflare.com/perplexity-is-using-stealth-undeclared-crawlers-to-evade-website-no-crawl-directives/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/perplexity-is-using-stealth-unde...