ztmike
Mark for moderation
Premium
join:2001-08-02
Michigan City, IN
 ·Comcast
1 edit | Googlebad
Looks like i might need to get a new homepage and search site.
I don't like the idea of some huge corp. saving my IP and cookie information.
What about Gmail?
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"I am the worst president in US history, I'm either stupid or dumb most of the time, but people still believe me." George W. Bush |
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elboricua
El Subestimado
Premium
join:2001-08-12
Bronx, NY
| A bot reads your mail and directs advertising to you. Were you expecting privacy? They explicitly tell you that there will be targeted advertising on that system.
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My Blog | Sending script kiddies to /dev/null since 1995! |
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Madmick
join:2002-12-12
East Northport, NY | If Google wants to track me, PAY ME MOTHERFOCKERS! |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| said by Madmick  :If Google wants to track me, PAY ME MOTHERFOCKERS! They are. They are providing you a service at no cost to you. If you don't like them tracking you, don't use their service. You are free to start your own search service that crawls the internet and indexes just about everything. Probably won't be as good but at least it will be private. You are also able to get your own e-mail service. If you don't want them targeting ads to you based on the content, then pay for your own. |
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imanogre
join:2005-11-29
Mcdonough, GA
| said by cdru :said by Madmick :If Google wants to track me, PAY ME MOTHERFOCKERS! They are. They are providing you a service at no cost to you. If you don't like them tracking you, don't use their service. You are free to start your own search service that crawls the internet and indexes just about everything. Probably won't be as good but at least it will be private. You are also able to get your own e-mail service. If you don't want them targeting ads to you based on the content, then pay for your own. Very nice reply. Too many people want something for nothing nowadays. It's refreshing to see people who actually understand how our system of commerce works. |
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GeneStarwind
join:2001-12-13
Fairfax, VA
| reply to cdru
But it's another thing to provide free, no-frills service for an extended period of time (building up the reputation of an ad-free, dependable multi-service provider), and then suddenly shift gears in the aforementioned manner once your customer base is large enough (as if they're doing so poorly financially, to begin with: »ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3f7···8SKFQJ00). Sounds more like an effective bait maneuver than anything else. |
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cork1958
Cork
join:2000-02-26
Fruitport, MI
 ·Verizon Online DSL
·Charter Pipeline
1 edit | said by GeneStarwind :But it's another thing to provide free, no-frills service for an extended period of time (building up the reputation of an ad-free, dependable multi-service provider), and then suddenly shift gears in the aforementioned manner once your customer base is large enough (as if they're doing so poorly financially, to begin with: » ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3f7···8SKFQJ00). Sounds more like an effective bait maneuver than anything else. A well planned one at that, huh? Just took a little time and a ton of fanboys spreading the word on how great they are!! Never have cared for Google/Gmail and we all KNOW about AOL! There's a couple other items that have a ton of fanboys spreading things I've never cared for to begin with also.
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The Firefox alternative.
»www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/ |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| reply to GeneStarwind
said by GeneStarwind :But it's another thing to provide free, no-frills service for an extended period of time (building up the reputation of an ad-free, dependable multi-service provider), and then suddenly shift gears in the aforementioned manner once your customer base is large enough I have only used gamil a few times in the past but hasn't GMail always had some type of text ads along the side? Google search has long had ads either at the top of the search listing or along the side. In both cases they are easily removed (well, at least hidden) using ad blocking software or a extension like Google Customize.
Even if they provided the service gratis without even ads and suddenly started showing ads, it still costs you nothing monetarily. It costs you some privacy theoretically, but even then I think the privacy you have "lost" wasn't there to begin with; it was just presumed to be there.
Anyways, it's their service and they can do as they wish. While there may be a policy shift after a long period of having their service one way, the service is still continuing to be free (as in money). It's not like they gave away the service for free for years and then one day locked down everything and demanded actual money in order to get access back holding everyone in hostage in the process. |
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Zaber
When all are gone, there shall be none
join:2000-06-08
Cleveland, OH
clubs:
·Expedient
·XO COMMUNICATIONS
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to GeneStarwind
said by GeneStarwind :But it's another thing to provide free, no-frills service for an extended period of time (building up the reputation of an ad-free, dependable multi-service provider), and then suddenly shift gears in the aforementioned manner once your customer base is large enough (as if they're doing so poorly financially, to begin with: » ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3f7···8SKFQJ00). Sounds more like an effective bait maneuver than anything else. Sounds more like good business. You let them use your services for no cost to them, then when you decide you need to make some money you add targeted advertising. The best part is Google made no attempt to hide this.
On a somewhat related note, I was watching an old VHS tape and it had a NetZero ad on it stating that NZ will NEVER charge for internet access.
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Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he will feed himself for a lifetime |
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swhx7
Premium
join:2006-07-23
Elbonia
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to ztmike
Whenever you interact with a website, you are giving data such as your IP address and browser info, and maybe picking up some cookies if you haven't turned off this feature. All this is hard to avoid but harmless.
You can opt out of advertising, targeted or not, by using software that blocks unwanted servers, such as Adblock Plus or a customized hosts file.
Gmail and similar services are a special case. You have to register, login and accept cookies to use the service. If you use the same company's sites for searches or other services (e.g. Yahoo search and Yahoo mail), they will probably together all the data on your actions on the sites, and mail contents etc., into a profile. |
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