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604 points wyldfire | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.37s | source
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querez ◴[] No.26345764[source]
> That framing is based on a false premise that we have to choose between “old tracking” and “new tracking.” It’s not either-or. Instead of re-inventing the tracking wheel, we should imagine a better world without the myriad problems of targeted ads.

This seems backwards to me: the alternative to "targeted ads" are "untargeted ads", aka Spam. Who would rather have spam than targeted ads. Sure, spam might be easier to ignore, but it's also not effective from the company's perspective: showing the ad only to people who might be willing to spend money seems like a good thing to me. It's certainly economical. Which is why I feel like targeted ads are not something we can get rid of.

replies(3): >>26345811 #>>26345903 #>>26346265 #
1. pornel ◴[] No.26346265[source]
This "it's either no privacy or you get spam" is another false premise. Google has built their empire on ads based on search keywords and topics of websites you visit. Personalized cross-site tracking is a relatively new and small addition.