Hacker News Reader

Comment by MatthewPhillips | Hacker News Reader

I've never understood the absolute hostility some people have for a small div of advertising that you can easily ignore.

View on HN

I don't particularly like being a product, thank you.

I wonder how many people who say this are the same people who'd pay for every one of the free services offered by these companies. I for one would rather have ads.

Ads seem harmless until they start using your likeness to sell stuff to others or vice versa.

Why exactly is this harmful, i.e., who is harmed and by how much?

When my likeness is used in conjunction with a random product, there is an implicit assumption that I somehow support it. And other people may see it and distance themselves from me, refuse to do business, or refuse to hire me.

As an extreme example, how would you like it if an unscrupulous porn site featured your face on an advertisement? Even worse, suppose a prospective client or employer saw your face on an advertisement for some banned substance. In most cases, its irreparable damage.

"suppose a prospective client or employer saw your face on an advertisement for some banned substance"

But this is not what Google does, or am I missing something? AFAIK, what they actually do is more akin to shopping basket analysis supermarket chains do. So my question remains: How exactly does it harm you? Has Google ever linked you in a publicly identifiable way to some product? Moreover, if you feel bothered by the way they handle things, why don't you just stop using them?

"But this is not what Google does, or am I missing something" <-- Google in specific doesnt do anything like that now, but Google and the other sites can change their terms of service from under us (I dont think people knew five years ago that Facebook ads would use our likeness or would change their terms to allow them to do so by default). For all the talk of Google "does no evil", they are still a company and, push come to shove, could change their terms.

"Moreover, if you feel bothered by the way they handle things, why don't you just stop using them?" <-- as explained in my example, I can't stop prospective clients or employers using google. I certainly can stop myself, but the damage happens when others see it

When has this ever happened?

I remember a discussion at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2801109

I didn't know about this; I agree that this is wrong.

It sounds like he's railing against the motivations of the business as a whole that allow Google, Twitter, and Facebook to live at the scale that they do.

As for why someone would have hostility, I can relate with him. I think it's a general opposition to consumerism needing to be in your face everywhere and the deceptive nature of it (tracking users across the web for example). Just feels "dirty."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com