[JohnFen]

Advertising as a concept isn't evil. Marketing methods that are commonly employed these days (especially online) are, though. When marketers stop spying and putting effort into defeating the defenses of people trying to avoid their spying, and when they stop engaging in outright psychological manipulation, then they can start to make an argument that they aren't evil without me laughing.

[true_pk]

Hey, author here. Good point! Historically, all sales people are in a way manipulators, and the best of them are those who know human psychology and behavior. This hasn't changed with how we advertise today. But we should be more restrictive with how we handle the data, who can access it and what they can have access to. That's not as much on the advertising industry as it is on regulations around technology, which is only a recent subject for discussion.

[JohnFen]

> That's not as much on the advertising industry as it is on regulations around technology

What I hear in that is "treating people badly is OK as long as it's legal". That may or may not be what you meant, but that's what it sounds like to me. I think that's an ethically unsupportable stance.

[billy99k]

"defenses of people trying to avoid their spying"

Most people aren't trying to 'avoid their spying'. They want something for free, without ads.