The EU's war on behavioral advertising • Hacker News Board

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#41

Post by dale_glass » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:43 PM UTC

seydor wrote: post #3

... for no reason , to no effect, except the destruction of the entire eu online advertising industry

I'm not seeing the benefit from behavioral advertising.

I should be an easy person to target -- I buy techy stuff that fits into pretty neat categories.

Yet Amazon seems to be completely unable to figure out some very simple patterns, like that if you're not a company, you're probably not looking to start a collection of printers, cell phones, UPSes or monitors, and that buying one is a sign of that you're done with the product category for a while.

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#42

Post by master-lincoln » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:43 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #19

JohnFen wrote: post #2

This is a wonderful start. Here's hoping it catches on outside of the EU as well!

What about this free market that everyone talks about? I don't think there are any protections around the reasonable expectation of privacy from a private industry perspective in the US. If you use the internet, or an app, you must protect yourself. I assume everyone is a capitalist, so wouldn't adding laws here somehow subsidize and therefore tarnish the market?

Liberals lied when they told you about it. There is no free market and the whole concept would only work if actors had equal powers which is not the case. Why do you think adding laws that forbid advertisements in certain configurations are a subsidy?

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#43

Post by Cyph0n » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:44 PM UTC

hnhg wrote: post #7

I would rather be the subject of behavioral advertising and keep privately encrypted comms than the other way around, but apparently the EU has other ideas.

EU legislators are experts at coming up with a bunch of good regulations but then cancelling it all out with a hefty dash of blanket, pro-surveillance legislation.

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#44

Post by someplaceguy » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:44 PM UTC

seydor wrote: post #38

slater wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Found the online marketing person! And there are plenty of reasons.

if you re in tech your salary depends on advertising money somewhere along the chain

> if you re in tech your salary depends on advertising money somewhere along the chain

You say that like it's a good thing.

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#45

Post by tsimionescu » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:45 PM UTC

seydor wrote: post #24

rolodato wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good riddance. Hope it extends beyond the EU as well.

it will not, because that is unsustainable. but we can shove our head even deeper in the sand and hope so

It's unsustainable to do advertising while maintaing user privacy? Someone tell the whole advertising industry from 1950 to 2000 or so.

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#46

Post by btbuildem » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:45 PM UTC

Interesting how this is forcing these companies to objectively improve their products -- chronological feeds, friends and follows only, etc is what users have been begging for and being ignored, because advertising trash salad is more profitable.

If the long-term effects end up being along the lines of the big social corps withdrawing from the EU, I see that as an enormous win for that economic zone. The presence of these companies, the influence of their products on society and individual mental health have been shown to be overall harmful.

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#47

Post by omginternets » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:45 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #19

JohnFen wrote: post #2

This is a wonderful start. Here's hoping it catches on outside of the EU as well!

What about this free market that everyone talks about? I don't think there are any protections around the reasonable expectation of privacy from a private industry perspective in the US. If you use the internet, or an app, you must protect yourself. I assume everyone is a capitalist, so wouldn't adding laws here somehow subsidize and therefore tarnish the market?

Most people balance the ideal of a free market with other ideals, such as freedom from corporate predation.

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#48

Post by slater » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:46 PM UTC

seydor wrote: post #38

slater wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Found the online marketing person! And there are plenty of reasons.

if you re in tech your salary depends on advertising money somewhere along the chain

Good thing I'm not in tech, then. Pheeee-ew!

edit: but to add some substance:

If you (yes you, OP) are in the online advertising sphere, surely you're at the losing end of many battles, not just this lil EU thing? I'm thinking the ever-growing prevalence of adblockers, tracker-blocking, e-mail trackers being blocked etc.?

For you it must be like a game of whack-a-mole, except your mallet is increasingly smaller, and the moles' velocity is approaching lightspeed

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#49

Post by JohnFen » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:46 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #19

JohnFen wrote: post #2

This is a wonderful start. Here's hoping it catches on outside of the EU as well!

What about this free market that everyone talks about? I don't think there are any protections around the reasonable expectation of privacy from a private industry perspective in the US. If you use the internet, or an app, you must protect yourself. I assume everyone is a capitalist, so wouldn't adding laws here somehow subsidize and therefore tarnish the market?

> If you use the internet, or an app, you must protect yourself.

That's easier said than done when it comes to the tracking that enables this sort of advertising. What method do you suggest?

> I assume everyone is a capitalist

I don't think that's a valid assumption. Also, there are many different kinds of capitalists. I'm a capitalist in the most basic sense, being an entrepreneur, but I see a lot of things asserted under the banner of "capitalism" that I disagree with.

> so wouldn't adding laws here somehow subsidize and therefore tarnish the market?

I honestly don't understand what you're getting at here.

Re: The EU's war on behavioral advertising

#50

Post by dale_glass » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 4:46 PM UTC

seydor wrote: post #38

slater wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Found the online marketing person! And there are plenty of reasons.

if you re in tech your salary depends on advertising money somewhere along the chain

Not mine as far as I know. As a consulting company of course we advertise, but not really to normal people. At least I don't think I've ever seen online ads for services that involve a team of programmers and large sums of money.