Earlier quoted context omitted.
You and your wife's phones are almost certainly tied together in multiple databases that adtech companies (especially the quieter tiers below Google/FB themselves) maintain and sell. And then you get re-targeted for ads you or her see, or ads based on things you or her see (retargeting was a really big thing back when I was in the industry, since behavioral prediction wasn't quite living up to the hype - so just re-s…
This is really interesting. I would buy a short book describing and explaining this privacy-related stuff the way you write about it. But every time I read something like this, I am puzzled how they can have so much information and yet be so dumb. One example (but I could give you many): I like cycling and I subscribe to some cycling-related YouTube channels (Lanterne Rouge, Dylan Johnson - normal stuff, informative,…
Have you noticed how much shit the internet has become now? (2007)
61–66 of 66 posts
Re: Have you noticed how much shit the internet has become now? (2007)
#62Re: Have you noticed how much shit the internet has become now? (2007)
#63I will cite a quote [that I think is] from William Gibson: "The absolute most important skill to master in those days is to find the correct words to type in Google". I will add: "don't let anyone choose them for you !!!"
Re: Have you noticed how much shit the internet has become now? (2007)
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
You and your wife's phones are almost certainly tied together in multiple databases that adtech companies (especially the quieter tiers below Google/FB themselves) maintain and sell. And then you get re-targeted for ads you or her see, or ads based on things you or her see (retargeting was a really big thing back when I was in the industry, since behavioral prediction wasn't quite living up to the hype - so just re-s…
This is really interesting. I would buy a short book describing and explaining this privacy-related stuff the way you write about it. But every time I read something like this, I am puzzled how they can have so much information and yet be so dumb. One example (but I could give you many): I like cycling and I subscribe to some cycling-related YouTube channels (Lanterne Rouge, Dylan Johnson - normal stuff, informative,…
Everything is is by aggregate. So they can put you in a bucket with a bunch of other people with a similar footprint, and if 75% of people in that bucket convert when being shown that one you hate, you get to see it too.
Low-level optimization beyond that was rare at the places I worked.
"Sneaky but obvious" was way more common. And the browsers and platform vendors kept making it harder to do certain things, so it was a constant rat race to maintain the same level of browser tracking.
Re: Have you noticed how much shit the internet has become now? (2007)
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
You and your wife's phones are almost certainly tied together in multiple databases that adtech companies (especially the quieter tiers below Google/FB themselves) maintain and sell. And then you get re-targeted for ads you or her see, or ads based on things you or her see (retargeting was a really big thing back when I was in the industry, since behavioral prediction wasn't quite living up to the hype - so just re-s…
Having worked with ad networks, publishers, and advertisers, it’s incredibly clear that ad targeting is barely this intelligent. But the serendipity it can create is truly wild.
Tracking is easy, intelligent personalization is hard. But tracking alone takes a lot of constant investment with tech development and arms race and all.
Re: Have you noticed how much shit the internet has become now? (2007)
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Considering that the old quote is Cicero criticizing pre-dictator Julius Caesar for the way he wore his toga (and not, you know, all the things that Sulla might've put him on the Proscription Lists for), I'd argue its more that old people consistently criticize the wrong thing about young people, focusing on the superficial, rather than the substantive. EDIT because I forgot to add: This missing the mark is rarely be…
Actually, I am thinking of a different old quote: “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and…
Given that it is, at best, paraphrasing what Plato claims infamous scold and gadfly Socrates said, I'm inclined to reject the quote in its entirety. Anything Socrates is quoted as saying has to be viewed through the lens of "what does Plato want the reader to get out of this?". The answer, invariably, is whatever it takes for the reader to abandon Athenian democracy and take up Plato's weird mandatory warrior-athlete-philosopher society.