Ban all advertising on automatically collected data. Users who desire to may opt in by voluntarily providing information about themselves to get the most relevant ads. Apart from that, ads become targeting-free.
Pretty sure all the data for all targeted advertisement is automatically collected?
When I search for things on AliExpress, and then later browse the Internet, it shows me ads for those things.
Your solution sounds equivalent to banning all advertising on the Internet essentially when I do a Google search for something am I consenting to see ads for that thing?
> Pretty sure all the data for all targeted advertisement is automatically collected?
Sure is.
> Your solution sounds equivalent to banning all advertising on the Internet
Not at all. We made targeted advertising a central pillar of the Internet before we realized what that meant. We've normalized the notion of being spied on on the Internet at all times, but that's a choice we made (or perhaps didn't make) that can be remade.
Every regulation on big business in the history of big business has been whined and bitched and complained about. Corporations swore they could never survive paying negroes the same as whites. Same for not being able to employ children. Same for being made to employ women and other minorities. On and on.
Regulations get passed, society benefits. More often than not the corpos do too, even if they refuse to acknowledge it.
Advertising, including online, existed long before targeting existed. It can exist again. I'm sure there will be pain but I have absolute faith in the tech industry, which employs most of if not all the best minds in my generation, to solve the problem. What they lack is a reason to.
> essentially when I do a Google search for something am I consenting to see ads for that thing?
... yes?
Edit: Also just like... you make it sound like there's NO WAY at ALL to "aim" your advertisements without a surveillance apparatus. It's ridiculous.
* Recommendations based on purchase history: any given retailer can do this without running afoul of privacy regulations. Why not?
* Contextual recommendations: Are you trying to sell drone parts? Cool, advertise on drone enthusiast forums and Facebook groups, and use the hashtags in other social media for those things.
* Make Newsletters actually good: Put up a newsletter about your products. If it's quality work that doesn't hit my inbox EVERY SINGLE DAY, I would sign up for it.
Like there are ways to advertise products in targeted ways without spying on people and creeping the fuck out of your potential customers. You just... treat them like people you have an ounce of respect for? Not sentient wallets you're trying to shake every last penny out of.
>> essentially when I do a Google search for something am I consenting to see ads for that thing?
> ... yes?
My problem with this isn't that I see ads when I do the Google search. My personal problem is that the information is then added to my advertising profile and I see those ads everywhere else, too.
Maybe I was brainwashed by too many Mullvad advertisements. [1] (joking)
[1]: https://mullvad.net/en/blog/advertising-that-targets-everyon...
>Same for not being able to employ children. Same for being made to employ women and other minorities.
I don't quite understand your worldview. So they want to employ children, but not women and minorities?
>Regulations get passed, society benefits.
A very doubtful statement. Especially if you look at the growth of wages compared to the level of labor productivity.
So if I purchase prenatal vitamins, then it’s OK if that retailer advertises to me assuming I am pregnant but if that retailer sells that information to another retailer now it it’s a problem? Is that the short of it?