how-to block ads
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MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T Southwest
| reply to Titus Pullo
Re: This is like 253rd on the list of things I'm concerned about
said by Titus Pullo  :said by MyDogHsFleas :I mean, so I get a few targeted ads. So what? I really don't get why this is a front-page-news on BroadbandReports.com level issue. Because experience teaches us that this is always how it starts. Privacy for profit first; privacy for nefarious purposes second. Think about the adage "give an inch, take a mile" for a few minutes, and then think about your government for a few minutes afterward. These are two completely different things that you have related together because of conspiracy fever.
Businesses want buying and ad-response information about people, so they can be more effective with their advertising spend. That has nothing to do with what the government may or may not want. The government could care less about your market behavior. | |
Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
·Embarq
| said by MyDogHsFleas :said by Titus Pullo :said by MyDogHsFleas :I mean, so I get a few targeted ads. So what? I really don't get why this is a front-page-news on BroadbandReports.com level issue. Because experience teaches us that this is always how it starts. Privacy for profit first; privacy for nefarious purposes second. Think about the adage "give an inch, take a mile" for a few minutes, and then think about your government for a few minutes afterward. These are two completely different things that you have related together because of conspiracy fever. Businesses want buying and ad-response information about people, so they can be more effective with their advertising spend. That has nothing to do with what the government may or may not want. The government could care less about your market behavior. Well, unless you're suddenly ordering guns online  ...
And you know, turning anything resembling mistrust or being wary into "conspiracy fever" won't fly because enough people have learned how hard others work to turn words that convey simple concepts into a pejorative -- like the word "liberal" for example.
No one is claiming - at least I hope not - that these ISPs are in cahoots w/the Illuminati, only that it's another avenue of ingress for *possible* abuses of privacy, if you're so inclined to believe such abuses exist. I do.
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MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| said by Titus Pullo :Well, unless you're suddenly ordering guns online ... You raise an excellent point. The Government IS interested in illegal buying activity over the Internet. Illegal weapons, child porn, mail fraud, etc. So I should have said "the government could care less about your LEGAL market behavior".
And sorry if I hit a sore spot with the "conspiracy fever" comment. I'm all about mistrust and being wary. My point is, I just don't think tracking consumer behavior for ad targeting is something that deserves much wariness. | |
KoolMoe
Aw Man
Premium
join:2001-02-14
Annapolis, MD
clubs: | I think it does need some wariness. The definition of what's legal can change in a heartbeat. It may not be illegal to search for Vegetarian Aliens now, but do you want the gov't to know you used to search for them before it was made illegal?
KM | |
MrMoody
But the Grinch ... did Not.
join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC
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| reply to MyDogHsFleas
said by MyDogHsFleas :The government could care less about your market behavior. Well, except in a concerted mass economics way, which is why they are in denial about the current inflation, recession and un/underemployment. Mortgage failures and real estate slippage are just symptoms that make a convenient scapegoat to help avert a general panic. Welcome to the 70s again, folks, and the cause is the same this time as it was then.
Personal predictions, you saw 'em here first:
Obama will be nominated and win the election by a landslide and the biggest Democratic victory since LBJ in 1964 if not bigger.
2009 will see the beginning of double-digit inflation and unemployment. Only heroic efforts will avert a depression.
Gasoline will be $4 a gallon even in low-priced areas by next March and $6 a gallon within 3 years.
Obama will not win a second term.
I sure hope I'm wrong.
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The public is a poor business manager. | |
MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| said by MrMoody :Personal predictions, you saw 'em here first: Obama will be nominated and win the election by a landslide and the biggest Democratic victory since LBJ in 1964 if not bigger. 2009 will see the beginning of double-digit inflation and unemployment. Only heroic efforts will avert a depression. Gasoline will be $4 a gallon even in low-priced areas by next March and $6 a gallon within 3 years. Obama will not win a second term. I've been telling people for a while that he completely reminds me of Jimmy Carter. He speaks in nice-sounding platitudes of "solutions" to "problems". The solutions are all simplistic, even arrogant in their assumption that the previous administration were stupid concrete-heads not to understand the brilliance of the "solution". He also acts like he's better, more moral, more pure than everyone else -- not a politician but a spiritual leader, almost. And, his policies are all about having government intervene for the people.
I was in my 20s in the 70s. It really, really stunk. You couldn't buy a house or a car because interest rates were almost 20%. Taxes were sky-high. Our enemies were laughing at us, taking hostages, pushing us around. The Soviets decided it was OK to invade Afghanistan, knowing we wouldn't do anything (therefore laying the seeds, ironically, for 9/11). He screwed up the military so bad that they couldn't even fly helicopters through the desert to rescue POWs. Then the stupid attacks on oil companies and the ham-handed attempts to fix gas prices caused incredible shortages -- it was a lot of work and time just to get enough gas to go to work. Jimmy's response was to put on a sweater (to show how we should bundle up to save on heating costs), go on national TV, and tell us the only thing wrong was that we had a "crisis of confidence" and if we would just pick up our chins and smile confidently everything would be OK.
Out goes Jimmy, in comes Ronnie, kicks the Arabs around, sets the oil free, lowers taxes, frees the hostages, fixes the interest rates, and kicks off one of the greates booms in history. Not to mention ends the Cold War and crushes the Soviet Union, after helping the Afghani kick them out of their country (which, also ironically, also led to 9/11). Ahhhhhhhh... sweet relief. | |
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