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Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

thebigtech.substack.com

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Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#71

Post by 29083011397778 »

speeder wrote: post #5

Whenever I read articles like this, I get more and more horrified. I mean, I know that adtech spy on us a lot, but I didn't knew for example that using Bluetooth while the app is shut down was possible. Makes me very wary even of dumbphones, for example I bought a dumbphone recently, and yet it came with Facebook and Google Assistant both pre-installed.

> I mean, I know that adtech spy on us a lot, but I didn't knew for example that using Bluetooth while the app is shut down was possible.

And now that so many of us leave BT on all the time for our BT earbuds and airpods, I'd assume it's become better at tracking, not worse

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#72

Post by rolph »

arcturus17 wrote: post #69
esrauch wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's several reasons why everyone wants you to install the app, some of which aren't sketchy.

> some of which aren't sketchy I am as cynical about forcing apps down user's throats as anyone (Reddit, I'm looking at you), but the downvotes are a bit too much when this is a perfectly reasonable point, no? Some cases for apps are perfectly legitimate, maybe the access to the phone APIs and the native experience is much better for a given product or service. I'm a firm believer in PWAs but as it stands I really pr…

we can have privacy, security, autonomy

and it is possible to do it with apps if we shift to apps being a service for the user, rather than a service for the developers sponsors

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#73

Post by nahkoots »

danaris wrote: post #68
speeder wrote: post #5

Whenever I read articles like this, I get more and more horrified. I mean, I know that adtech spy on us a lot, but I didn't knew for example that using Bluetooth while the app is shut down was possible. Makes me very wary even of dumbphones, for example I bought a dumbphone recently, and yet it came with Facebook and Google Assistant both pre-installed.

Get an iPhone. Whatever else you may think of them, Apple is deliberately working to prevent this sort of crap from happening without your knowledge and consent.

They've also taken a hardline stance against right to repair, which is a deal breaker for a lot of HN. Unfortunately, there aren't many modern options for people who care about both owning their devices and not being spied on by them.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#75

Post by cm2012 »

intricatedetail wrote: post #7

Why can't governments make tracking illegal? These companies that manipulate population into buying products they don't want or need are the mythical "broken window". Nobody mention how all this online business contributes to global warming. Factories produce useless products, that need to be stored, delivered, disposed of...

Because web traffic for the purposes of advertising doesn't actually hurt anyone, and it pays for services the electorate likes.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#76

Post by [deleted] »

cardosof wrote: post #60

While I'm sure personalization increases ad efficiency metrics to some degree, I'm curious to see how all this will actually "hurt" FB, either by making their ads worse in terms of CPA/CPC/etc or in advertisers pouring less money into FB and more money into other DSPs/inventories. As anything marketing, it's not that straightforward, really, and advertisers may very well keep running ads on FB despite all those chang…

[deleted]

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#77

Post by intricatedetail »

PeterisP wrote: post #44
intricatedetail wrote: post #7

Why can't governments make tracking illegal? These companies that manipulate population into buying products they don't want or need are the mythical "broken window". Nobody mention how all this online business contributes to global warming. Factories produce useless products, that need to be stored, delivered, disposed of...

It's difficult to make regulation for a specific line that actually does disallow tracking without leaving loopholes and does not put weird restrictions on everyone else. However, governments (at least some) are trying; GDPR is a step in that direction, but it has ovious associated difficulties have been discussed here in HN for years; California is moving in with similar laws, so there is a trend, but it will take y…

This could be combined with banning ad targeting. So even if companies collected data, they wouldn't be legally allowed to use it.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#78

Post by ska »

akmarinov wrote: post #17
motoboi wrote: post #4

So we basically are seeing that google was "right" from their point of view in securing a mobile OS. Facebook maybe thought this day would never arrive and could have avoided that by doing their own mobile OS too. Well, maybe they declared this battle as lost and focused on the next one: VR. Problem is that VR took too long to arrive and death on mobile can kill Facebook?

VR's probably not going to be bigger or even equivalent to mobile, so they should've tried harder.

VR has been 'the next big thing' for a lot of decades now.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#79

Post by toast0 »

jfengel wrote: post #59
esrauch wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's several reasons why everyone wants you to install the app, some of which aren't sketchy.

Seriously, what are they? Every time I get pointed at an app, I can only think of https://xkcd.com/1174/

Many (most?) apps don't do it, but the useful feature for me that's not possible with a web page is reliable, unobtrusive, background updates.

Things like weather (with or without current coarse location), sports scores, headline news benefit from up to the minute data fetches, but older data is still useful.

For communication apps, often people would like notifications on inbound messages, so that can fit with web push apis to get data; but if you don't want notifications, you can't consistently make messages available to read offline.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#80

Post by tpmx »

lima wrote: post #70
nvr219 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that? Does Cambridge Analytica-type stuff not happen with Google? I feel the same way as you but not because I think one is less evil. Rather, it's because Google brings me much more value in its search engine and productivity suite.

Google has a reputation for good internal controls (that Facebook was lacking at the time).

Going slightly tangential:

It seems like there are a lot more political activists working at Google. It also seems likely that this will backfire in a spectacular way at some point.

The risk here is politically strategic data leaks of individual user data - not Cambridge Analytica-like situations. Could be blackmail material on a few key people, or perhaps a giant data leak on millions of people from the "enemy side".

The point is that sharing data with Google is just as dangerous.

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