December 16th, 2020 at 6:54 PM
Facebook and Apple have pretty much always been at odds with one another. Facebook states that Apple is too monopolistic and exerts too much control over what happens with app developers (and the 30% commission is excessively high). Apple, in turn, consistently criticizes Facebook for its privacy policies, and for their business model which relies in targeted ads.
Personally, I find targeted ads to be creepy and uncomfortable. I don’t like my information being sold as if it were a product. But as much as I strongly disagree with just how much information Zuckerberg tends to mine from its consumers, I do believe that targeted ads (at least in some capacity) are a necessarily evil. The internet simply depends on them. It greatly reduces the cost for advertisers and increases revenues for websites, allowing the majority of the internet’s websites to stay online for free without paywalls. It’s hard to imagine the internet without at least some form of targeted ads.
That being said, it’s a very unsettling reality that phones can listen to conversations, operate cameras without your consent, access clipboards, or mine detailed information about you (and especially when this information comes from third party agencies or is collected through multiple websites and aggregated as such). This is creepy and should not be allowed. Effective targeted ads can be done without becoming a total invasion of privacy. And this has become a large part of the issue, where advocates for targeted ads tend to gloss over the actual definitions they ascribe to. It’s one thing to make a profile for forum ads based on a user’s posts. It’s another thing entirely to try to mine information from OFF of the forum for the same purpose.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with Facebook’s stance with Apple?
https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/fa...1608140590
Personally, I find targeted ads to be creepy and uncomfortable. I don’t like my information being sold as if it were a product. But as much as I strongly disagree with just how much information Zuckerberg tends to mine from its consumers, I do believe that targeted ads (at least in some capacity) are a necessarily evil. The internet simply depends on them. It greatly reduces the cost for advertisers and increases revenues for websites, allowing the majority of the internet’s websites to stay online for free without paywalls. It’s hard to imagine the internet without at least some form of targeted ads.
That being said, it’s a very unsettling reality that phones can listen to conversations, operate cameras without your consent, access clipboards, or mine detailed information about you (and especially when this information comes from third party agencies or is collected through multiple websites and aggregated as such). This is creepy and should not be allowed. Effective targeted ads can be done without becoming a total invasion of privacy. And this has become a large part of the issue, where advocates for targeted ads tend to gloss over the actual definitions they ascribe to. It’s one thing to make a profile for forum ads based on a user’s posts. It’s another thing entirely to try to mine information from OFF of the forum for the same purpose.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with Facebook’s stance with Apple?
https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/fa...1608140590
. (And I am happy to keep my ad-blocker off on sites that advertise responsibly - and don't shove too many ads in my face or anything obtrusive like that: my favourite sites could certainly use the support!)