Hacker News Reader

Comment by crazy1van | Hacker News Reader

Personally, if I have to watch 3 ads on Hulu before my video, I'd rather them be for things I might want to buy than things I will never buy.

View on HN

I, on the other hand, would rather they be ads for things I _don't_ want, so that I'm not tempted to spend money on crap I don't need but have been manipulated into wanting more than I already do.

Why are you telling us that? It was never your choice to make. And that's the problem.

My point is that in this case I actually do get some value from losing privacy.

I could just watch regular TV instead of Hulu. Those ads are just targeted broadly by the viewership of a particular show or time-slot.

This tradeoff was forced on you.

Piracy is ALWAYS an option. And piracy guarantees privacy in viewing. It doesn't go into RedBox's DB, nor does Netflix see what I watch, and nor does Hulu, nor even YouTube/Google. Nor will those Internet-bluray players tattle what I've seen.

And there's no ads, ever.

And I can watch when I want, how I want.

Better yet, call it Rights-maintained Media.

> piracy guarantees privacy in viewing

It does nothing of the sort; it only makes it less likely you'll get a targeted ad, and more likely you'll get a nasty letter from your ISP instead.

I'm sorry you have to live in a world where you are forced to watch things you don't want to, but I guess that's the endpoint for our society so we should just learn to accept it.

Oh man, that'd be a crazy awesome way to collect info on your preferences. "Here are five ads - pick the one you want to watch."

I haven't been on Hulu in some time (~2 years), but I often saw a choice from 3 different ads.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com