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Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

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Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#71

How in the world can this be considered reasonable for them to track you across other apps and sites? This like if the local grocery store owner would install hidden cameras to spy on me at home and at work and in the car and one day somebody forced them to ask if I'm sure that's what I want them to do. This all makes me start feeling like I might finally want an iPhone...

>This like if the local grocery store owner would install hidden cameras to spy on me at home and at work

The more accurate analogy would be the grocery store owner teaming up with other local businesses to aggregate your shopping habits across stores into a central database. What you're describing would be if facebook installed a RAT on your computer after visiting it.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#72
post #67

If people opt out of what you're doing to them as soon as they're made aware you're doing it, then perhaps that's a sign that you shouldn't have been doing it in the first place. I don't even believe that 25% of users actually wanted tracking. I think a lot of people just blindly tap buttons to make annoyances go away, and these guys just hit the wrong button.

I personally wish the wording was slightly different.

Something like Deny Tracking Allow Tracking

instead of the "Ask app not to track" I have to read the prompt a few times to make sure i pick the right one

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#73
For the past year I've had this ritual of clicking on every advertising tile as soon as it appears and mark it as irrelevant and that I don't want to see any more from that company. Currently this happens for a couple of days at the start of some months.

So far I feel like this strategy has worked fine, 90% of the time I don't get served any unwanted content and I can view a decent timeline.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#74

Facebook: “We believe that personalized ads and user privacy can coexist.” No-one else does.

How would this even be theoretically possible?

I mean, if you know someone’s personal details, they per definition has lost that privacy towards you.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#75

How in the world can this be considered reasonable for them to track you across other apps and sites? This like if the local grocery store owner would install hidden cameras to spy on me at home and at work and in the car and one day somebody forced them to ask if I'm sure that's what I want them to do. This all makes me start feeling like I might finally want an iPhone...

> This all makes me start feeling like I might finally want an iPhone...

Or maybe don't use Facebook on Android?

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#76
post #67

If people opt out of what you're doing to them as soon as they're made aware you're doing it, then perhaps that's a sign that you shouldn't have been doing it in the first place. I don't even believe that 25% of users actually wanted tracking. I think a lot of people just blindly tap buttons to make annoyances go away, and these guys just hit the wrong button.

I personally wish the wording was slightly different. Something like Deny Tracking Allow Tracking instead of the "Ask app not to track" I have to read the prompt a few times to make sure i pick the right one

I agree. My guess is that Apple suspects it can't be 100% effective at preventing apps from tracking, so they're trying to set expectations accordingly in case someone figures out how to track users anyway.

But yeah, my preference would be just something like "Do not track".

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#78
post #74

Facebook: “We believe that personalized ads and user privacy can coexist.” No-one else does.

How would this even be theoretically possible? I mean, if you know someone’s personal details, they per definition has lost that privacy towards you.

At least theoretically, you could have the whole logic deciding which ad to show you running locally on your device, without the need to send any private data to Facebook?

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#79
post #65

It’s almost as if, given information and a choice, people prefer not to have their eyeballs monetized. Of course, if this catches on (and I hope it does), we ultimately run up against “people prefer not to pay for things.” Will be fun to watch.

It's a bit of a cynical take, but maybe it'll help cut useless apps and help people focus on what matters a bit more. A good thing about paying for something with money is that it makes you conscious of what you're doing. When you're paying with your data, it's harder.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#80
post #75

How in the world can this be considered reasonable for them to track you across other apps and sites? This like if the local grocery store owner would install hidden cameras to spy on me at home and at work and in the car and one day somebody forced them to ask if I'm sure that's what I want them to do. This all makes me start feeling like I might finally want an iPhone...

> This all makes me start feeling like I might finally want an iPhone... Or maybe don't use Facebook on Android?

Facebook is tracking users of other, non-Facebook apps. Apple's new feature allows users to deny Facebook that ability.
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