[fouc]

Most people would prefer to NOT be tracked, and would consider tracking to be immoral (a privacy violation). Tracking is like having a stalker. Even if the stalker never does anything with your lifestyle habits, routines, preferences, etc, no one would consider that data to be moral for any individual to hold (and by extension any company).

The only reason we balk at thinking of tracking as immoral is because it's hugely unrealistic to combat it and outlaw it. And also because companies benefit enormously from it.

[s3cur3]

> Most people . . .

Citation needed? If we’re just swapping anecdotes, my experience has been that the vast majority of people I talk to are fine with being tracked on the internet, and think it’s a reasonable exchange for what they get out of it.

Is there survey data, for instance, that shows people actually feel strongly about this?

Edited to add: I think the most relevant survey data is people voting with their feet. And despite the 24-hour news cycle of Facebook privacy SNAFUs (both intentional and not), their user numbers aren't really falling off.

It's hard to take people seriously when they say "what Facebook does is profoundly evil, but it's outweighed by the value of cat videos/Crossfit videos/Tasty recipes/reading the political rants of acquaintances I haven't spoken to in a decade." :/

[mirimir]

In my experience, that's only the case because they have no bloody clue about how much they're being tracked.

Also, from 2012-2013:

Study Finds Broad Wariness Over Online Tracking: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/most-americans...

Survey: 3 Out Of 4 Consumers Now Notice Retargeted Ads: https://marketingland.com/3-out-4-consumers-notice-retargete...

[fouc]

I've seen that "tracking in exchange for free service" notion around HN a bit before, it sort of makes sense. But what about the case when you're paying for everything and still getting tracked?

I think most people expect tracking by the website that they're on, and ONLY that website. That's mainly for improving the website experience and so on. It wouldn't be a privacy violation since it's only their behavior for that website specifically, and no behavior from the other websites.

So in reality we're talking about websites that allow third party tracking or sell tracking information to third parties. That's a privacy violation.