Comment by kart23

Comment by kart23 9 hours ago

5 replies

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> Profound Threats to Users Can Occur When Targeting Occurs Based on Sensitive Categories

> Targeted ads based on knowledge about protected categories can be especially distressing. One example is when someone has not disclosed their sexual orientation publicly, but an ad assumes their sexual orientation. Another example is when a retailer identifies someone as pregnant and targets ads for baby products before others, including family, even know about the pregnancy. These types of assumptions and inferences upon which targeted advertising is based can in some instances result in emotional distress, lead to individuals being misidentified or misclassified, and cause other harms.

If this is one of the biggest harms the FTC can come up with, then honestly as a consumer I don't really care. Having free youtube is worth getting a few mistargeted ads, or I CAN JUST TURN TARGETED ADS OFF. Advertising isn't someone harassing you, its an ad that I can close or just report as not being accurate. I'd really be interested to hear from someone who thinks getting a mistargeted ad is in top 10 most stressful things in their life.

What I would really be interested in is the raw responses from the companies, not this report.

carb 9 hours ago

> I CAN JUST TURN TARGETED ADS OFF

The only reason you have the option to do this is because of groups pushing back against advertising companies. Ad companies have no incentive to offer the option to disable targeting.

If you like having this option available, then you should like this FTC report and the position they are taking.

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  • kart23 9 hours ago

    > If you like having this option available, then you should like this FTC report and the position they are taking.

    I can like other positions and actions the FTC has done, like requiring the ability to turn off targeted ads, and not like others, like this one. This is among the biggest problems in politics right now. Supporting a political party doesn't mean you need to 100% back all their opinions and policies, thats how change is effected in successful democratic systems.

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    • stiffenoxygen 8 hours ago

      > I can like other positions and actions the FTC has done, like requiring the ability to turn off targeted ads, and not like others, like this one

      They weren't saying that was the case I think you're misunderstanding them here. But they are 100% correct, you are benefiting from other people fighting against this mass surveillance and yet speaking against it. I think you should do some research on why privacy is important and challenge yourself and your potentially entrenched beliefs.

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      • kart23 6 hours ago

        Read my first comment. I definitely agree privacy is important. All I'm saying is that this is not one of the harms we should be worrying about when saying targeted advertising is a problem, and I don't understand why this is an important issue that we should care about when targeted advertising can be turned off:

        "Profound Threats to Users Can Occur When Targeting Occurs Based on Sensitive Categories"

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