So what if Google sends me targeted ads? • Hacker News Board

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#21

Post by jwells89 » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:46 PM UTC

imiric wrote: post #8

Something the article doesn't mention is that your data is not only used to target you with ads. It's also used to target you with propaganda or any political or social agenda a person, organization or state is willing to pay for. Adtech is the perfect weapon of information warfare, and it's been successfuly used to influence public opinion, and corrupt democratic processes (e.g. Cambridge Analytica). Both ads and pr…

Indeed. It's often said that's what's being traded away when using ad-supported products is attention, and that's true, but only partially. Users also trade away some amount of control over their own way of thinking and decision-making processes because whether one realizes it or not, no matter how hard they may try to firewall off external input, ads influence us.

Framing it that way, it becomes clear how unequal of a trade ads really are.

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#22

Post by giantrobot » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:47 PM UTC

The data needed to target ads to you can be used for a variety of purposes besides just advertisement. You have no control over what third party "partners" do with that data and no control over its dissemination. You have no control over how those third parties can combine data from multiple brokers and de-anonymize the data [0].

[0] https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2013/06/09/using-metad...

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#23

Post by CamperBob2 » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:49 PM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #14

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #7

Meh, I'm still not convinced. I mean, I suppose I get possibly being creeped out that Google knows you prefer Pepsi over Coke and that you recently purchased an adult toy or whatever, but...meh? So they'll use that data to sell me targeted ads that I'm just going to block anyways. I just don't see how it's actually harmful beyond the government access issue that's just dropped in as a single sentence at the end of on…

My government certainly doesn't care what sex toys I buy; but there are some bronze plaques in the pavement around here, dedicated to victims of the earlier of the two times the government was evil and sent people to their deaths for such things; and I've been to the museum made from the headquarters of the people responsible for the second time it was evil and spied on anyone and everyone.

Public service announcement: the Texas government very much does care what sex toys you buy.

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/the-texas-law-that-dictates-...

Legislation like this is not an abstraction confined to museums and history books. It's what the party of "Small Government" actively works to implement, day in and day out. It can happen here, along with much, much worse.

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#24

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:50 PM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #13

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #7

Meh, I'm still not convinced. I mean, I suppose I get possibly being creeped out that Google knows you prefer Pepsi over Coke and that you recently purchased an adult toy or whatever, but...meh? So they'll use that data to sell me targeted ads that I'm just going to block anyways. I just don't see how it's actually harmful beyond the government access issue that's just dropped in as a single sentence at the end of on…

> I get possibly being creeped out that Google knows you prefer Pepsi over Coke and that you recently purchased an adult toy or whatever Frankly, if I preferred Pepsi over Coke, I'd rather get ads (which sometimes include discounts/coupons) for Pepsi than for Coke. Similarly, if I bought an adult toy, I'd rather get ads for similar adult toys than ads for . I'm definitely pro-privacy, but it's got nothing to do with…

[deleted]

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#25

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:52 PM UTC

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #7

Meh, I'm still not convinced. I mean, I suppose I get possibly being creeped out that Google knows you prefer Pepsi over Coke and that you recently purchased an adult toy or whatever, but...meh? So they'll use that data to sell me targeted ads that I'm just going to block anyways. I just don't see how it's actually harmful beyond the government access issue that's just dropped in as a single sentence at the end of on…

[deleted]

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#26

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:52 PM UTC

russdill wrote: post #2

"My supermarket has a savings scheme, in exchange for my personal information. The way it works is that the cashier asks: do you want to join this savings scheme? If the customer says yes, they give you a form to fill in your details. If you say no, they leave you alone, and you miss out on the discount or gifts." Hahahaha, yes, if you don't join their club, they don't collect personal information.

[deleted]

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#27

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:53 PM UTC

imiric wrote: post #8

Something the article doesn't mention is that your data is not only used to target you with ads. It's also used to target you with propaganda or any political or social agenda a person, organization or state is willing to pay for. Adtech is the perfect weapon of information warfare, and it's been successfuly used to influence public opinion, and corrupt democratic processes (e.g. Cambridge Analytica). Both ads and pr…

[deleted]

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#28

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:54 PM UTC

JohnMakin wrote: post #6

The issue isn't just targeted ads though. This data, once in the hands of google, is packaged and resold to whomever google pleases, for whatever purposes those parties see fit - not even to mention inevitable breaches. Not google, but see the whole healthcare data fiasco lately with apps using facebook's analytics API's as an example.

[deleted]

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#29

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:55 PM UTC

SenAnder wrote: post #9

While the post doesn't address it, ask yourself: What if you do have something to hide? What if your government was like China's or Russia's? If you let privacy vanish now, you'll be helpless when you need it. Data is power: How pre-teens using metadata found a whistleblower in two hours - https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/how-team-of-pre... Trust your instincts, you have them for a reason. If it was priva…

[deleted]

Re: So what if Google sends me targeted ads?

#30

Post by aaroninsf » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 4:55 PM UTC

imiric wrote: post #8

Something the article doesn't mention is that your data is not only used to target you with ads. It's also used to target you with propaganda or any political or social agenda a person, organization or state is willing to pay for. Adtech is the perfect weapon of information warfare, and it's been successfuly used to influence public opinion, and corrupt democratic processes (e.g. Cambridge Analytica). Both ads and pr…

This 10,000%

It is a battle to explain this to my kids, e.g. in the context of why we scrutinize what apps they use; and one (of several) reason(s) we don't let them use various apps. The monkey-mind obsession with visible cause and effect is for certain one of the cognitive errors that will doom our civilization.

I would love for there to be hard reset in the premises of surveillance capitalism and our industry's starring role in it.

As with e.g. our collective non-response to climate change, glib shrugs in response to the methodical construction of total surveillance in defiance of passionate, funny, relentless criticism (Cory Doctorow comes to mind), give every appearance of being the sort of thing future generations would look back on with perplexity and justified anger. "How could they not just 'let' this happen, but enthusiastically drive it?" How indeed.