>You do know that the ad won't necessarily be relevant to you, right?
Perhaps, but I don't really see the difference in the end. Anecdotally, I see ads for IntelliJ IDEA because I look up a lot of coding-related things. So does it matter that I'm getting this ad because Google's ad network has decided I like coding, or because IntelliJ selected some parameters and said "send this ad to coders"?
The goal of either operator would be to send me an ad they think I'm most likely to click on, and so from the user perspective it's indistinguishable where the ad is actually directed from.
>Regarding that "minor event": it is minor in isolation, but the point is that you are generating a large amount of those events that are being aggregated into databases where they are unlikely to be deleted.
Alright, here's the thing. I don't love the idea of tracking but I'm not repulsed by it either. I always see "tracking is evil!" as if it's the final say on the matter, especially on this website. But I've yet to see a convincing argument that it's something which I should be actively concerned about, or that it's something making my life worse in any way.
Often what I see is people using emotional words like "surveillance", when really we're talking about a computer algorithm that matches ads with interests groups. It inspires imagery of somebody watching you through your computer which I suspect is the point. This sort of language strikes me as hyperbolic, and in some cases dishonest.
I realize this is outside the scope of your original comment, but understand that when making claims like "tracking is evil", or some variation of that view, unless there's something tangible to point to and say "this is how it makes your life worse", it just doesn't register on my radar.
It might be easy to dismiss that view as short-sighted, but ultimately I consider it more pragmatic than placing ethical stances on what seems to be largely speculative concerns. Why would an ad company sell user data when that's their entire competitive advantage? In the case of Google (and I suspect most others), their privacy policy explicitly prohibit them from selling user data.
Ultimately I find that technology improves my life in many ways, and I try not to fear it unless I see a real cause for concern. And on this particular issue I haven't seen that yet.