Comment by tantalor

>You could have non-personalized, or contextual ads. But those are much less effective.

This is always a bit frustrating to me, in that, if someone doesn't like personal data collection, they likely have enough blocked that the attempts at targeted advertisements are likely to be very ineffective. And even in spaces where there is little personal data available, online advertising still seems to desperately cling to targeting rather than context.

I remember being struck by the contrast between the printed Times Literary Supplement, with advertisements for new book releases, conferences, cultural events, and so on, which all seem quite relevant to the audience, are often enjoyable and informative, and have directly motivated me to buy things, and the automated advertisements that were added to their podcast, for things like... a football-themed advertisement for a car dealership vaguely located near some rough geolocation of my IP address.

> You could have non-personalized, or contextual ads. But those are much less effective.

This is a lie that has been perpetuated for a very long time.

1. There's no definite proof they are much less effective

2. Even if they are less effective, is it a bad trade-off when weighed against life-long pervasive and invasive tracking?