[Thrymr]

> I do not see problems with fake ad clicks and have no sympathy for ad companies.

I am not shedding any tears for the ad companies, but I don't exactly expect or want a consumer device to be doing this in the background without the owner's knowledge.

[jrm4]

Sure. And you'll quite literally never be able to get any meaningful reduction in this practice unless you attack it at the level of big, publically known companies; the warnings about these local dinky things I suppose are not harmful and help individuals a bit -- but I'm concerned they give the entirely false impression that the extremely similar stuff coming from the big boys is definitely a-ok.

[Dylan16807]

Reduction in what practice? Are there big companies doing ad fraud?

I want big companies to stop spying on me, which is a completely different issue.

[jrm4]

They're not at all "completely different issues."

Both are well within the category of

"If you buy a device to do a thing, then the device does something else that is not readily apparent to the user that user would find objectionable if they had clearer knowledge."

This is immoral and harmful regardless of precise vector/action.

[Dylan16807]

That spying harms me while ad fraud harms random companies is already enough to separate them by a lot, I'd say.

But also the spying is expected by a lot of people. And a lot of people wouldn't object so much to screwing up internet ads.