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Comment by elliekelly | Hacker News Reader

They might not be visually intrusive but they are indeed very intrusive. If you went to the mall would you find it intrusive if Macy’s put a little beacon on your shoulder every time you walked in the door so they could follow you around and track your movement for the next few days? The beacon is small and unassuming and tasteful - you’ll hardly even notice it! Who cares? A stalker is a stalker no matter how nicely it blends with the aesthetic.

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If you're this worried about being tracked, you can always choose to turn off cookies, JavaScript, and maybe try the ToR browser. No problem with this either!

If I placed a magnetic beacon holder in my arm, I sure wouldn't bother. That is the case with most browser users, unfortunately. If they aren't happy with that, they might consider switching browser vendors to ones that protect more their privacy.

Awful as they might be, ads are part of society and a source of revenue (and information!) for many.

I do take steps to prevent internet stalking but I don’t find the “stalkers are part of society and need to earn a living, too” argument all that persuasive.

Guess what I find the 'remove all ads' arguments? Much less persuasive.

Then it’s a good thing I haven’t put forth such an argument! Advertisements aren’t what I take issue with - it’s the tracking that comes along with them that I find repugnant.

> If you're this worried about being tracked, you can always choose to turn off cookies, JavaScript, and maybe try the ToR browser.

Half of the internet doesn't work without JavaScript these days, the rest barely works on TOR because of the likes of Cloudflare.

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