[boxspam]

I do think that Google has data sharing with "hundreds of companies". These are not advertisers, these are ad companies. They recently updated to comply with GDPR.

https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/9012903

https://developers.google.com/third-party-ads/adx-vendors

Edit: And about it being "evil" or "bad", let's just say that it is "unnecessary" (from a user viewpoint). You can still make money from ads without hovering up user data. But then you don't make money from users not clicking on the ad, and it is slower to build up an effective profile. Relevant ads are better than irrelevant ads, but nothing beats no ads at all. The best future ads will not look like ads at all (but will be hidden inside reviews and editorials).

[mertd]

You'd prefer paid reviews over ads? Ads are honest. You know who paid for them and the intent is clear.

[andirk]

Ads honest? And their intent is clear? What is honest or clear about an ad that says "doctors dont want you to know this"?

[rwesty]

That's not the point. The point is the ad is clearly marked and separate from the content you want to see. The other type of ad is known as "selling out." Where a legit content creator abuses their viewers trust in them to put out false information for financial gain. I would much rather have the first option. Although I think a paid tier with no ads is respectable as well.

[ehnto]

Modern advertising is an industry rife with abuse and coercion. The ad industry is to blame. Content creators can be evil to, but enabled by the ad industry who is happy to be in like company.

If I followed you around with a paper advertisement, wrote down where you frequent and who you talk to in my notebook, and left a copy of the advertisement everywhere you went, you would call the police. Online advertising does just that and much more and they do it with impunity.

[krisgenre]

You can't really draw parallels with the virtual and real world. Starting at someone's Facebook profile pic is not the same as standing next to the person and doing the same.

[ehnto]

But the tracking is in the real world. Adtech for tracking your presence in store and then online and connecting the dots has been in action for some time. You don't even need GPS enabled.

[boxspam]

I meant "the best" for the advertisers, not necessarily for the users. It is possible to do this transparently and there are times when users may actively search such "ads" out (and being paid a small fee, instead of that fee going to ad click companies), but the trend is going to obfuscation. You can block ads, but you won't block content.

In a sense this complaint and PR is such a form of obfuscated advertising. The money and technological skills is in the hands of the advertisers, not the users, so this will be an unfair fight (advertisers will be better at hiding ads, than users are able to detect them).

[GW150914]

At least reviews don’t mine bitcoin on my box, come with malware, chug my processor, and track me across the web. Ads stink, but it’s the fact that ads have become synonymous with info brokering, spying, and all of the rest that makes me ready to dance on the industry’s grave. Maybe 5 or 6 years ago I’d have cared about what Brave had to say, now I have uBlock Origin and uMatrix and I evangelize it to everyone I know offline. I won’t be going back because of a long delayed come-to-Jesus moment had out of desperation.

Besides, a lot of ad supported sites are hideous, and the sooner they can’t support themselves and stop cluttering the net, the better. HN will still be here, most of the sites with articles submitted here will be too. The best content out there is free, crowdfunded, or paywalled, while the worst of clickbait is ad supported. Besides, it’s so much more relaxing to avoid ads, I don’t have to waste thinking about how they’re trying to manipulate me into buying tat, make me feel inadequate unless I buy their products, etc. When you stop seeing ads online, on tv, and then you watch some cable or unfiltered internet... it’s horrible. Marketing is a grim, tiring, assault on the senses aimed at the absolute lowest common denominator, and I’m glad to be rid of it and hopefully eventually, the businesses which make it.

This industry that abused everyone it could until a technical means to fight back was developed, doesn’t deserve any more chances. This whole, “oh we’re the good parasites, we’ve figured out that it’s bad to kill the host, we just want a slice out of you,” shtick deserves to go over like a lead balloon.