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There are many ways to monetize free online websites. The most obvious way is advertising. Advertising can be privacy-respecting. The Guardian in particular is

by Flimm 1y ago

There are many ways to monetize free online websites. The most obvious way is advertising. Advertising can be privacy-respecting. The Guardian in particular is funded by a trust fund, by donations, by advertising, and maybe by other sources of revenue as well.

vovavili 1y ago
>Advertising can be privacy-respecting Not the effective kind.
- grishka 1y ago
  The entire previous history of humanity we only had non-targeted ads in newspapers, on billboards, and on TV and radio, and everyone was ok with that. But suddenly, on the internet, it's somehow "not possible" to have advertising that isn't personalized or even dynamic at all. How so?
  - tcfhgj 1y ago
    > and everyone was ok with that not really
  - Flimm 1y ago
    Even personalised advertising can be done without sharing personal data with 100+ third parties. For example, ask the user to fill out a survey about their interests, and then serve them more personalised ads based on their survey answers, all without sharing personal data with third parties.
  - cdfsdsadsa 1y ago
    I don't think that's true - I'm certain that the advertising has always done everything it can to maximise return on investment.
  - beardyw 1y ago
    Whilst I broadly agree, ads have been targeted to location for a long time. Newspapers and TV would have geographical editions so you don't advertise say your theatre production to people who are too far away to care. With billboards or earlier fliers, you did the same.
    - grishka 1y ago
      Of course. Also TV ads would usually be shown during programs that the advertiser's target audience is most likely to be watching. Like ads for toys between cartoons. That's all fine, you can do the same on the internet without harming anyone's privacy. As an advertising network, you can receive the topic information from the websites themselves as part of them signing up, and users' approximate location can be derived from the IP address. But instead, they're all hellbent on doing some form of personalization (via tracking) and attribution, and act as if the world would end if all technical means to do that, like third-party cookies, would cease to exist.

by Flimm 1y ago

vovavili 1y ago

>Advertising can be privacy-respecting Not the effective kind.

grishka 1y ago
The entire previous history of humanity we only had non-targeted ads in newspapers, on billboards, and on TV and radio, and everyone was ok with that. But suddenly, on the internet, it's somehow "not possible" to have advertising that isn't personalized or even dynamic at all. How so?
- tcfhgj 1y ago
  > and everyone was ok with that not really
- Flimm 1y ago
  Even personalised advertising can be done without sharing personal data with 100+ third parties. For example, ask the user to fill out a survey about their interests, and then serve them more personalised ads based on their survey answers, all without sharing personal data with third parties.
- cdfsdsadsa 1y ago
  I don't think that's true - I'm certain that the advertising has always done everything it can to maximise return on investment.
- beardyw 1y ago
  Whilst I broadly agree, ads have been targeted to location for a long time. Newspapers and TV would have geographical editions so you don't advertise say your theatre production to people who are too far away to care. With billboards or earlier fliers, you did the same.
  - grishka 1y ago
    Of course. Also TV ads would usually be shown during programs that the advertiser's target audience is most likely to be watching. Like ads for toys between cartoons. That's all fine, you can do the same on the internet without harming anyone's privacy. As an advertising network, you can receive the topic information from the websites themselves as part of them signing up, and users' approximate location can be derived from the IP address. But instead, they're all hellbent on doing some form of personalization (via tracking) and attribution, and act as if the world would end if all technical means to do that, like third-party cookies, would cease to exist.