| > But what can we do to treat the cause, instead of just the symptoms? By affecting the bottom line, increasing expenses and/or decreasing profits. > If they stop working (or rather work less – it's a spectrum) AdNauseam is an interesting attempt in this space - a browser plugin to automatically "click every ad to fight surveillance" (their words). By clicking everything, clicks become less valuable, at least in theory, but it has not really caught on. > I feel the fix will be more along the lines of improving individual psychology and mental wellbeing, rather than entering the arms race of adversarial technology to block packet traffic (or whatever). I agree with this. Ad blocking, ad clicking, packet blocking, is all thinking too small, always trying to catchup. It will always be behind and while useful for a niche subset of users, these kinds of technologies are more bandaids than a real solution to trigger fundamental changes to the advertising tracking industry. What is a real, impactful solution? I don't know, but an area I have not seen explored much, considering by analogy: Internet : Web ::
Big Tech : ??? That is, the web layered on top of the Internet, as a disruptively transforming application, extracting and providing value. Can another technology be created to build on the foundations provided by Big Tech, delivering value they provide, while avoiding their tracking/advertising downsides? I have little idea what this would look like in practice (how do you disrupt a billion dollar industry?), but if someone can crack this nut, it may change the world. Startup idea elevator pitch: disrupt Big Tech. |