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A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

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Re: A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

#152
post #150

It really seems that online privacy will trigger some sort of second internet bubble. There is soooo much money involved with online advertising, but it's not popular among consumers, so it seems that something is going to break in this business model. One technical solution would be to decentralize internet even more, but it's pretty complex to do.

I suspect the answer will be paying a bit more for internet and having ISPs forward that fee onto websites.

Re: A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

#153

It's easy to mock the pettiness of all parties described here, and it's common for people on this forum to take absolutist stances with regards to privacy/advertising, but it's also important to recognize that these arguments will actually define the future of the internet for the average user. There are trillion dollar companies on both sides of the argument, and their eventual compromise will establish the defaults…

There aren't trillion dollar companies that advocate for privacy. Private data is a market, I think you know that with that username. Increasing privacy doesn't decrease competition, it would force businesses to not deal with private data. There is no conflict here. There is no net loss here aside for specialized advertisers.

It could even enable competition. Small companies have no chance to compete with the huge data collections of Google and friends.

Re: A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

#154
post #48

I used to be of the mind that ad tech et. al. weren’t really hurting anyone, and that the more extreme examples of privacy offenses were simple edge cases. That is until I switched to iOS and was given the option to hide my true email address, tell an app not to track me, and otherwise get visibility into just how much my data is getting sniffed for stupid reasons that have nothing to do with the service I’m using.

Progress. What would be neat is to see how much data Apple is collecting about its customers after purchase. Why wouldnt we want to know this. Could Apple provide option to hide true email address, tell app do not track and give visibility into data being sniffed without also collecting vast amounts of user data itself. We cannot answer that question until we see the data they collect. I used to be of the mind that A…

A big difference is that Apple makes money by selling me devices. Google and Facebook make money by manipulating me into buying their customer's products.

Incentives matter.

Re: A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

#155
post #150

It really seems that online privacy will trigger some sort of second internet bubble. There is soooo much money involved with online advertising, but it's not popular among consumers, so it seems that something is going to break in this business model. One technical solution would be to decentralize internet even more, but it's pretty complex to do.

I'm still convinced that the internet would benefit from a standard for (micro)payments straight from the browser, without all the friction that comes with current online payments. "Read this article, pay €0.05 [OK] [Cancel]".

And for everything else, I really wish we would go back to smaller websites which are run out of a desire to share. I don't get why every blog has to have ads and affiliate links. Web hosting is cheaper than dirt in 2021. I colocated a server out of my allowance when I was 13, simply because I had a desire to share some of the things I was tinkering with. If you can't afford the €1/month it costs to host something in 2021, maybe you just shouldn't.

Re: A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

#156
post #152
post #150

It really seems that online privacy will trigger some sort of second internet bubble. There is soooo much money involved with online advertising, but it's not popular among consumers, so it seems that something is going to break in this business model. One technical solution would be to decentralize internet even more, but it's pretty complex to do.

I suspect the answer will be paying a bit more for internet and having ISPs forward that fee onto websites.

You do realize that your answer is based on the premise that your ISP knows what and when are you visiting and the duration of that, right?

Re: A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Progress. What would be neat is to see how much data Apple is collecting about its customers after purchase. Why wouldnt we want to know this. Could Apple provide option to hide true email address, tell app do not track and give visibility into data being sniffed without also collecting vast amounts of user data itself. We cannot answer that question until we see the data they collect. I used to be of the mind that A…

A big difference is that Apple makes money by selling me devices. Google and Facebook make money by manipulating me into buying their customer's products. Incentives matter.

Isn't it not entirely out of reason to wonder if Apple could also want to monetize their user data ?

Re: A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big difference is that Apple makes money by selling me devices. Google and Facebook make money by manipulating me into buying their customer's products. Incentives matter.

Isn't it not entirely out of reason to wonder if Apple could also want to monetize their user data ?

No. Apple could change directions. The only way to guarantee data won't be used is to not put it on anyone else's computer.

Re: A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Apple is a for profit company. On the side they are collecting your data for themselves and blocking others from getting it. Their profits come from products and services. Google is a for profit company. On the side the offer products and services. Their profits come from selling your data to others. Yes, I personally trust one over the other in this case. Although I don’t know what “for profit” has to do with a…

s/selling your data to others/selling access to you to others/ By collecting data about you, usually without you being consciously aware of it, they can offer access not just to a name/address but to a "profile". You are being profiled.

You are being aggressively profiled. They have taken steps to profile even when safari etc put in hurdles.

Re: A privacy war is raging inside the W3C

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Progress. What would be neat is to see how much data Apple is collecting about its customers after purchase. Why wouldnt we want to know this. Could Apple provide option to hide true email address, tell app do not track and give visibility into data being sniffed without also collecting vast amounts of user data itself. We cannot answer that question until we see the data they collect. I used to be of the mind that A…

A big difference is that Apple makes money by selling me devices. Google and Facebook make money by manipulating me into buying their customer's products. Incentives matter.

But Apple also makes money by selling you access to content. By extension, they are motivated to motivate you to buy said content. Having no goodwill left for any of them, I see no reason to assume that they would not resort to other forms of manipulation. In fact, from their own past, we know they are very happy to employ shady tactics as seen in for example the Apple-Google-Intel-Adobe Collusion case, the Batterygate lawsuits, ongoing right of repair cases etc.
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