I was skeptical based on just the title here, but this article does a good job of addressing some of the issues with modern advertising and data collection. I like that the article goes into...
I was skeptical based on just the title here, but this article does a good job of addressing some of the issues with modern advertising and data collection. I like that the article goes into methods to fight the data capturing that is so pervasive online these days, starting with blocking ads online.
Publishers will call this unethical but I disagree – I believe advertising in its current state is unethical. Advertisers have gone too far. It is the publisher’s responsibility to develop a business model that is sustainable and ethical.
I'm a huge fan of ad blockers, and I agree with the article's stance on the morality of blocking ads. If that means a bunch of websites have to go out of business because their ad-supported information gathering business model is not sustainable, so be it.
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram – all of these platforms exist to sell your attention to advertisers. One way they do this is by choosing the order in which content is delivered to your “feed” in order to increase engagement.
This is actually one of the reasons I am most likely to leave a platform. I want to be able to see all the content I signed up for, not what the platform decides is 'best' for me. Reddit's new redesign switching to sorting comments by best instead of top is one of the main reasons I wanted to find someplace better.
The article's last point about not needing all devices to be smart devices also resonates with me. I haven't bought a new TV in years because I don't want to deal with 'smart' TVs that show advertisements, have services I don't want or need, have been proven to be spying on people, and take 3x as long to turn on and require me to select an input to watch something on a local device from a menu. My current TV turns on, on the input I had previously selected, in seconds. I can then decide which of my devices I want to use to watch things, and don't have to rely on them whims of a 'smart' device that is more interested in selling me services and tracking me than it is in fulfilling its primary purpose, displaying video.
I liken this to the old (possibly apocrophal) TV/appliance stores that would have banks of TVs in the windows. Where the people who stopped and watched them, but never intending to buy a TV,...
I liken this to the old (possibly apocrophal) TV/appliance stores that would have banks of TVs in the windows. Where the people who stopped and watched them, but never intending to buy a TV, stealing? No.
I was skeptical based on just the title here, but this article does a good job of addressing some of the issues with modern advertising and data collection. I like that the article goes into methods to fight the data capturing that is so pervasive online these days, starting with blocking ads online.
I'm a huge fan of ad blockers, and I agree with the article's stance on the morality of blocking ads. If that means a bunch of websites have to go out of business because their ad-supported information gathering business model is not sustainable, so be it.
This is actually one of the reasons I am most likely to leave a platform. I want to be able to see all the content I signed up for, not what the platform decides is 'best' for me. Reddit's new redesign switching to sorting comments by best instead of top is one of the main reasons I wanted to find someplace better.
The article's last point about not needing all devices to be smart devices also resonates with me. I haven't bought a new TV in years because I don't want to deal with 'smart' TVs that show advertisements, have services I don't want or need, have been proven to be spying on people, and take 3x as long to turn on and require me to select an input to watch something on a local device from a menu. My current TV turns on, on the input I had previously selected, in seconds. I can then decide which of my devices I want to use to watch things, and don't have to rely on them whims of a 'smart' device that is more interested in selling me services and tracking me than it is in fulfilling its primary purpose, displaying video.
I liken this to the old (possibly apocrophal) TV/appliance stores that would have banks of TVs in the windows. Where the people who stopped and watched them, but never intending to buy a TV, stealing? No.