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by honzabe
1109 days ago
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This is really interesting. I would buy a short book describing and explaining this privacy-related stuff the way you write about it. But every time I read something like this, I am puzzled how they can have so much information and yet be so dumb. One example (but I could give you many): I like cycling and I subscribe to some cycling-related YouTube channels (Lanterne Rouge, Dylan Johnson - normal stuff, informative, bits of light humor now and then). YouTube keeps recommending me one cycling channel I absolutely hate - it is as if it was designed to piss me off. Sensationalist, negative, clickbaity titles, made up doping allegations every other post, throwing up emoticons in titles, creepy thumbnails with syringes and distorted faces. I never watch those videos, I clicked "do not recommend this channel" multiple times, now I just leave YouTube immediately every time this appears. And somehow, with all the data they have on me and all that sophisticated AI, they still have not figured it out. How? Any explanation? |
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Everything is is by aggregate. So they can put you in a bucket with a bunch of other people with a similar footprint, and if 75% of people in that bucket convert when being shown that one you hate, you get to see it too.
Low-level optimization beyond that was rare at the places I worked.
"Sneaky but obvious" was way more common. And the browsers and platform vendors kept making it harder to do certain things, so it was a constant rat race to maintain the same level of browser tracking.