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I left the ad industry because of data tracking

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Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#91

Post by cameronbrown »

pessimizer wrote: post #72
xfitm3 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ad targeting is intentionally fuzzy to avoid creeping you out. Companies like Acxiom have an incredible amount of data on you. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-targ...

A friend of mine worked for Acxiom, and when they looked themselves up they found 6-7 different profiles, all fantastically wrong, some clearly mixed with information from other people. Admittedly it's a very private person that I'm talking about who deliberately obscures themselves by leaving incorrect or misspelled information when forced to give any information, and who moves, switches jobs often, has an odd name,…

Terrifying that, even if they're looking up themselves, they're seeing other people's private data..

Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#92

Post by npongratz »

jamespo wrote: post #73
2Ccltvcm wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is those have the power to make dissidents vanish and make it seem like everything is perfect.

Hedge funds make dissidents vanish?

I certainly wouldn't want to be on In-Q-Tel's bad side.

Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#93

Post by zamber »

vmurthy wrote: post #57
Scoundreller wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mobile? Hard to block in-app ads without a pi-hole. I avoid apps where I can, but it’s not always avoidable/practical. Or at work if you’re forbidden from installing “unapproved” software.

Good point on mobile. I use Adguard Pro on mobile after reading about it on HN. Yet to test Pi-hole. The work part is unavoidable, I guess.

Adguard is getting discontinued due to app store policy changes: https://www.macobserver.com/news/adguard-pro-discontinued/

For Android there's a FOSS alternative (no root needed) - DNS66, alternatively if one has root there's always AdAway.

The only thing that stops working are monetization schemes in games - "watch this ad to double coins!", etc.

Browser-wise - Firefox on Android has working desktop extensions and it's glorious.

When it comes to native adverts (like timeline stuff in Instagram or Facebook) I just stopped using these platforms on my phone. Less time wasted on mindless scrolling.

I yet need to find a good way to block ads in podcasts. Skipping takes effort and I don't have my hands available for fiddling with the headphone remote.

Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#94

Post by Simon_says »

orbat wrote: post #86
2Ccltvcm wrote: post #52

Hedge funds and intelligence agencies are fingerprinting all groups within our society by monitoring the responses of various target audiences to engineered stimuli. This comes in the form of observing the response to selective dissemination of content with a known effect on observers (you). A few years ago we heard about some outrage nobody did anything about when it became clear Facebook was manipulating reader emo…

"strong healthy black man rescues white woman from a bumbling and pathetic white male." Yeah, that… really doesn't sound as common a theme as you imply

It must be common in 2Ccltvcm's feed. Maybe the algorithm knows him a little too well.

Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#95

Post by YUMad »

overthemoon wrote: post #80
2Ccltvcm wrote: post #52

Hedge funds and intelligence agencies are fingerprinting all groups within our society by monitoring the responses of various target audiences to engineered stimuli. This comes in the form of observing the response to selective dissemination of content with a known effect on observers (you). A few years ago we heard about some outrage nobody did anything about when it became clear Facebook was manipulating reader emo…

This is paranoid. I remember the story about Facebook doing emotional manipulation through the feed, but you go from there to hyper rich hedge funds and shadowy intelligence agencies at the reins of public life shaping the course of history through social media black magic. I don't doubt there are bad actors trying to do bad things via advertising and social media, but this is quite the claim. The rich and powerful a…

It is weird that he comments on that, and not that it's become the most advertised interracial coupling even tho IRL it's the 2nd least common interracial coupling?

Or are you just trying to ad-hominem him?

Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#96

Post by majewsky »

throwayEngineer wrote: post #78

Edit, remember not to shoot the people asking questions I'm not sure why that data is so horrifying. I work a job that I willing put on Facebook, and I live in a house i am a registered voter at. You can probably guess my route to work. I'm unsure why this is bad, it sounds more useless than anything.

Ah, the old "I have nothing to hide". Just one of many obvious rebuttals: We need to be a large anonymous crowd to protect those among us most in need of anonymity: whistleblowers, activists, stalking victims, to name a few.

Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#97

Post by YUMad »

orbat wrote: post #86
2Ccltvcm wrote: post #52

Hedge funds and intelligence agencies are fingerprinting all groups within our society by monitoring the responses of various target audiences to engineered stimuli. This comes in the form of observing the response to selective dissemination of content with a known effect on observers (you). A few years ago we heard about some outrage nobody did anything about when it became clear Facebook was manipulating reader emo…

"strong healthy black man rescues white woman from a bumbling and pathetic white male." Yeah, that… really doesn't sound as common a theme as you imply

It is not common IRL, black male + white female is the 2nd least common interracial coupling.

However, without going into who's pushing it, it is significantly more common in media than IRL.

Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#98

Post by everdrive »

somatic wrote: post #87
overthemoon wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is paranoid. I remember the story about Facebook doing emotional manipulation through the feed, but you go from there to hyper rich hedge funds and shadowy intelligence agencies at the reins of public life shaping the course of history through social media black magic. I don't doubt there are bad actors trying to do bad things via advertising and social media, but this is quite the claim. The rich and powerful a…

I don’t know about you, but the Snowden Revelations dramatically shifted my baseline of “paranoid schizo”. Before, I thought the prospect utterly bananas that “the government” was tapping every phone call, strong-arming ISPs, and intercepting mail en route to its destination. Then I found myself in a rabbit hole of Tuskegee experiments, Operation Northwoodses, MKULTRAs, human-animal hybrids, and so on. Now, the quest…

>Then I found myself in a rabbit hole of Tuskegee experiments, Operation Northwoodses, MKULTRAs, human-animal hybrids, and so on.

These things aren't interrelated, or even very similar.

Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#99

Post by luckylion »

jamespo wrote: post #73
2Ccltvcm wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is those have the power to make dissidents vanish and make it seem like everything is perfect.

Hedge funds make dissidents vanish?

I mean, how large is the divide between large corporations and government agencies and the military really? PBSUCCESS was quite some time ago, but is there reason to believe that this has fundamentally changed?

They certainly won't touch somebody for posting a negative yelp review, but if significant business interests align, does anybody doubt that people get vanished?

Re: I left the ad industry because of data tracking

#100

Post by taormina »

hmhrex wrote: post #54

Me and a few other people have been pushing for ethical advertising. It doesn't have to be this way. We meet monthly to give each other advice and help each other out. It's hard, it can take more time, but it's been a great experience, and I hope that this starts to become the norm over time. Here's the group: - Eric Berry with CodeFund ( https://codefund.io ) - David Fischer with ReadTheDocs ( https://docs.readthedo…

I absolutely love this. Have y'all been collecting your advice? I'd love to learn what has and hasn't worked so far for your projects.
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