4 ms·

Almost certainly they are using that for audience segmentation and ad targeting. Clever and disgusting. This isn't the invention of some evil moustache-twirling

by gwerbin 7mo ago

Almost certainly they are using that for audience segmentation and ad targeting. Clever and disgusting. This isn't the invention of some evil moustache-twirling executive, this was the invention of an employee or group of employees who value money more than morals. We should think of such employees as henchmen.

luxuryballs 7mo ago
if they do a better job at showing me an ad that might be relevant to me, how is that disgusting? if I have to see an ad at all I at least want them to give it their best shot
- gwerbin 7mo ago
  Imagine if someone was following you around with a clipboard writing down everything you do, then rifling through your bookshelf to make note of certain books on the bookshelf, and then using that to target ads at you. You'd say that's a ridiculous and illegal thing to do without you explicit consent, right? Maybe you personally don't mind and would be happy to offer that consent. But they're doing it without your consent, regardless of whether you want it or not.
  - luxuryballs 7mo ago
    by that analogy this is not following me around in my house, it’s when I go into their house that they log it?
    - LtWorf 7mo ago
      They share the data, so they have 24h coverage and peek inside from your windows when you're home.
- franktankbank 7mo ago
  What if someone makes an ad thats not an ad at all, maybe its a rabbithole designed to fuck with you. Maybe its designed to enrage you.
- alt227 7mo ago
  I cant believe that people still have the attitude that the trillions of dollars being invested in all this technology and tracking is just to give them a more relevant ad. Do people really not remember scandals like Cambridge Analytica, and realise that these ads combined with social media feeds can be used to literally control and manipulate peoples decisions and behavoir? Theres a reason Facebook and Youtube just got sued for being intentionally addictive attention machines.
  - caminante 7mo ago
    You're glossing over the nuance of the Cambridge Analytica scandal or at least I don't see how it's connected here. Facebook was a party, but not the protagonist. - a Cambridge researcher (Aleks Kogan) created a personality quiz FB app advertised as academic research - users had to consent to download the app - the app nefariously scraped users' friends' data (300k users unlocked 87 million users' data) - the information was sold to Cambridge Analytica - who then used the information to profile American voters LinkedIn already has all of this information from the information you feed it. Scanning for more information provides more refined views, but LinkedIn already has your graph.
    - alt227 7mo ago
      The parent post said: > if they do a better job at showing me an ad that might be relevant to me, how is that disgusting? To me that signalled that the author of the comment doesnt really care what is gonig on behind the scenes if the result is a better and more relevant ad. I see this attitude often from people who dont seem to understand the severity and seriousness of online tracking which leads to psychological profiling which leads to manipulation. > who then used the information to profile American voters You seem to have missed off the most serious bit at the end. Cambridge Analytica then used the data to profile millions of voters, and purposefully target divisive and flammable political material to specific suggestible people in order to manipulate outcomes. This same thing is done all the time by all tracking and ad companies. I think this thread has gone beyond just LinkdIn scanning your browser extensions.
      - 7mo ago
- buellerbueller 7mo ago
  It's not just about ads. The same data and tech is also about locking you up and identifying you for deportation you if this admin thinks you are in the USA without permission.
  - gwerbin 7mo ago
    And laundering responsibility. If the government uses a contractor to identify deportation candidates using this data, and they get it wrong, the government can at least try to shrug it off and blame the contractor, whose job is in part to absorb public outrage for these sorts of things. Whereas if the FBI wiretaps you and still gets it wrong, it's a lot harder to deflect blame.
- GrinningFool 7mo ago
  The rules say we should default to assuming good faith in comments. But it's hard when I see this comment in 2026.
  - luxuryballs 7mo ago
    what would the bad faith motive even be?
    - buellerbueller 7mo ago
      $$$, one of the classic bad faith motives. Most of tech nowadays is subsidized by advertising and profiling to some degree, often quite a large degree.
  - LtWorf 7mo ago
    “A pensar male degli altri si fa peccato ma spesso ci si indovina.” — Giulio Andreotti (it's a sin to assume bad intent, but you often get it right) He was a very controversial italian politician.
- janalsncm 7mo ago
  Aside from the fact that no one is asking for that, there is no law that prevents that ad targeting data from being sold to the government for the purposes of…whatever they want.

by gwerbin 7mo ago

luxuryballs 7mo ago

if they do a better job at showing me an ad that might be relevant to me, how is that disgusting? if I have to see an ad at all I at least want them to give it their best shot

gwerbin 7mo ago
Imagine if someone was following you around with a clipboard writing down everything you do, then rifling through your bookshelf to make note of certain books on the bookshelf, and then using that to target ads at you. You'd say that's a ridiculous and illegal thing to do without you explicit consent, right? Maybe you personally don't mind and would be happy to offer that consent. But they're doing it without your consent, regardless of whether you want it or not.
- luxuryballs 7mo ago
  by that analogy this is not following me around in my house, it’s when I go into their house that they log it?
  - LtWorf 7mo ago
    They share the data, so they have 24h coverage and peek inside from your windows when you're home.
franktankbank 7mo ago
What if someone makes an ad thats not an ad at all, maybe its a rabbithole designed to fuck with you. Maybe its designed to enrage you.
alt227 7mo ago
I cant believe that people still have the attitude that the trillions of dollars being invested in all this technology and tracking is just to give them a more relevant ad. Do people really not remember scandals like Cambridge Analytica, and realise that these ads combined with social media feeds can be used to literally control and manipulate peoples decisions and behavoir? Theres a reason Facebook and Youtube just got sued for being intentionally addictive attention machines.
- caminante 7mo ago
  You're glossing over the nuance of the Cambridge Analytica scandal or at least I don't see how it's connected here. Facebook was a party, but not the protagonist. - a Cambridge researcher (Aleks Kogan) created a personality quiz FB app advertised as academic research - users had to consent to download the app - the app nefariously scraped users' friends' data (300k users unlocked 87 million users' data) - the information was sold to Cambridge Analytica - who then used the information to profile American voters LinkedIn already has all of this information from the information you feed it. Scanning for more information provides more refined views, but LinkedIn already has your graph.
  - alt227 7mo ago
    The parent post said: > if they do a better job at showing me an ad that might be relevant to me, how is that disgusting? To me that signalled that the author of the comment doesnt really care what is gonig on behind the scenes if the result is a better and more relevant ad. I see this attitude often from people who dont seem to understand the severity and seriousness of online tracking which leads to psychological profiling which leads to manipulation. > who then used the information to profile American voters You seem to have missed off the most serious bit at the end. Cambridge Analytica then used the data to profile millions of voters, and purposefully target divisive and flammable political material to specific suggestible people in order to manipulate outcomes. This same thing is done all the time by all tracking and ad companies. I think this thread has gone beyond just LinkdIn scanning your browser extensions.
    - 7mo ago
buellerbueller 7mo ago
It's not just about ads. The same data and tech is also about locking you up and identifying you for deportation you if this admin thinks you are in the USA without permission.
- gwerbin 7mo ago
  And laundering responsibility. If the government uses a contractor to identify deportation candidates using this data, and they get it wrong, the government can at least try to shrug it off and blame the contractor, whose job is in part to absorb public outrage for these sorts of things. Whereas if the FBI wiretaps you and still gets it wrong, it's a lot harder to deflect blame.
GrinningFool 7mo ago
The rules say we should default to assuming good faith in comments. But it's hard when I see this comment in 2026.
- luxuryballs 7mo ago
  what would the bad faith motive even be?
  - buellerbueller 7mo ago
    $$$, one of the classic bad faith motives. Most of tech nowadays is subsidized by advertising and profiling to some degree, often quite a large degree.
- LtWorf 7mo ago
  “A pensar male degli altri si fa peccato ma spesso ci si indovina.” — Giulio Andreotti (it's a sin to assume bad intent, but you often get it right) He was a very controversial italian politician.
janalsncm 7mo ago
Aside from the fact that no one is asking for that, there is no law that prevents that ad targeting data from being sold to the government for the purposes of…whatever they want.