[Barrin92]

every regulation favours big companies in the trivial sense that there's a non zero cost to comply with any rule. However this is hardly a reason to not have rules, we also don't let startup companies throw waste into the river.

Smaller companies aren't somehow inherently virtuous, if they can only exist by violating user privacy even more so than large companies, I'd rather deal with large companies. Small companies aren't an end in itself. Banking is another good example of this. Canada has five big, heavily regulated banks and has not had one bank failure in a century. In the US tax payers bail out SV bank

[FredPret]

I hear you that small companies can suck even harder than big ones. But the idea of capitalism is that it’s a search function, looking for optimal solutions.

So having many firms positioning themselves differently is better than having a couple in that you’re more likely to find a good best solution.

We need some rules, but we need to err on the side of fewer not more rules.

My point is that mass ads requires massed capital. There will be few, huge, entrenched players. It’s much better to have a dynamic economy with piles of mom and pops as well as a couple of huge companies. This can only happen if mom and pop can afford to advertise. This can only work with targeted ads.

[mantas]

Ad targeting may be old good regional advertising. Or advertising in specific content rather than trying to target specific human beings based on their profiles.

[FredPret]

What if the target market for your specific content is 10k people? And they are spread out geographically?

Let's say you develop a new product/service aimed at a thin slice of the population - say, dentists in Chicago, or 19 y.o. females across the US, or beginner coders, or people with older dogs in the state of Utah.

How do you reach these people?

Not through a national/regional ad campaign - your ad budget is likely $10-$100/day. This is why we all need targeted ads.

[mantas]

What could be a product only for such a specific niche?

All dentists is Cervelo market :) Even if you really really want to target specifically Chicago dentists, you’re probably better off doing a presentation at local dentists’ union or something along those lines. Or just doing old good cold calls.

As for 19 year olds, just advertise in whatever is popular among such crowd? If 18 or 20 y/o sees it, it’s probably not far off, eh?

[FredPret]

Have you ever marketed anything?

If you ever do, I hope you have an unlimited budget and time horizon to make your ideas work.

[mantas]

Why your budget and timing should take higher priority than my privacy? Arguably social coherence is at risk too since targeted ads in politics may be very nasty. Targeted ads benefit few at expense of the whole society.