[isodev]

Google is the offender because they control both the search and the browser market. Imagine having to pay $18 billion and still coming on top.

Folks hooked to Chrome seem to forget that whatever they do online is used to refine their ad profile and generate even more ad money for Google and you can't opt out.

[csallen]

We don't forget. We just don't care. I am in no way upset that Google is refining my ad profile and making money. Many billions of other people are also not upset by that.

[rgbrgb]

I have a hard time believing that many billions of people know about adtech surveillance in any way.

[stronglikedan]

Of course they were being hyperbolic with the use of the word "billions". The point still stands though. The vast majority of people using Google's services do know about adtech surveillance, and just don't care.

[riscy]

Do you have a source for that claim? I think laypeople know google serves them custom ads, but don’t understand how or the extent to which adtech is tracking and profiling them to select those ads.

In fact, because it’s a common trope to say “they must have been listening to our conversation” when served an eerily specific ad, I’d wager people do not know about adtech at all.

[acdha]

In support of your claim, look at how much effort companies like Google or Facebook have put into avoiding disclosure. If the general public was knowledgeable they wouldn’t have fought things like privacy labels so strenuously.

[Jensson]

> In fact, because it’s a common trope to say “they must have been listening to our conversation” when served an eerily specific ad, I’d wager people do not know about adtech at all.

That meme is evidence you are wrong, so not sure why you brought it up. If people didn't believe they were being tracked they wouldn't have thought it listened on them. Listening on them is tracking.

Now of course the device probably wasn't listening and it just suggested the ad for other tracking reasons, so they are wrong about the specifics but they do understand that they are being tracked.

[riscy]

No. The joke’s humor is in the fact that it’s such a strange coincidence that they were served the ad that something totally absurd, like their phone listening to a private conversation, is a possibility.

Someone making a joke says nothing about what they believe to be true. Like the birds not being real.

[fsflover]

Any proof of "vast majority"? I have a different information: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35056857, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8751605

[bwanab]

That is a Black Mirror sentiment if I've ever heard one. Unfortunately, it is very accurate to the extent that those billions understand the issue.

[prepend]

That ad revenue isn’t free, it’s a tax that increases the price of everything.

You may not mind, but billions of people paying more for things would likely rather pay less.

[albert180]

It's also just a vastly inferior browser at least on Android compared to Firefox. Videos stop playing when you leave the tab, no AdBlockers. Don't know why anyone would use this voluntarily, if it wouldn't be preinstalled

[i5-2520M]

I use DNS level blocking, it syncs with everything I use, and has better compatibility and faster rendering performance (battery life). Don't want to use FF on Windows either due to the mentioned issues. On windows I have also found FF RAM usage is significantly higher.

[quonn]

I there evidence that Chrome currently sends anything beyond any other browser where I‘m logged into Google Mail?

In any case I have switched to Safari and it feels far less sluggish.

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

> Google is the offender because they control both the search a

Wait, they do search? I go to their website and put in keywords, and it throws random unrelated shit at me.

[RCitronsBroker]

ungoogled chromium my man