[HN Gopher] TV is watching you - Companies inventing new ways to...
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       TV is watching you - Companies inventing new ways to make money off
       your data
        
       Author : rmason
       Score  : 27 points
       Date   : 2025-03-28 20:37 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.vox.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.vox.com)
        
       | mikestew wrote:
       | https://archive.is/p6vbz
        
       | m463 wrote:
       | Naive writer. "personalized ads" doesn't mean he will see ads he
       | likes. It means advertisers will pay to show ads to him because
       | of his age, income or behavior, and they can be ads he doesn't
       | like.
        
         | kulahan wrote:
         | The goal of any advertising service is to match people with
         | relevant ads, and collecting data is a major part of how you do
         | that. That's what the author is referring to.
        
           | mjevans wrote:
           | Or they could base it on the content that's next to the ad.
        
             | Terretta wrote:
             | NYT among others found ads placed with content outperformed
             | ads attempting to target users. Also avoided awkwardly
             | advertising things that shouldn't be advertised alongside
             | certain content.
        
         | recursive wrote:
         | What's the difference? Ads are valuable to advertisers for a
         | number of factors, _including_ the estimated likelihood that
         | the targeted user will pay money for $PRODUCT.
         | 
         | An increase in relevance isn't exactly the same thing as an
         | increase in favor, but it's hard to believe they're not
         | correlated.
        
           | pyrale wrote:
           | Advertising is not limited to companies trying to sell an
           | innocuous product.
        
           | rightbyte wrote:
           | "Ads I like" would be like informative commercials about
           | workshop tools, like how they were in the 70s.
           | 
           | Not emotion focused ads, which is what The Man wants me to
           | see to make me buy his stuff.
           | 
           | I don't watch ads but if I did I would prefer a "what, how,
           | price" setup.
        
           | hammock wrote:
           | There is little difference if we are talking cost per click.
           | But many ads are still sold on cost per view
        
       | xnx wrote:
       | The general public has little concept how much personal
       | information ISPs, TV makers, car companies, websites (cross-site
       | tracking), and shady mobile apps are collecting and selling.
       | Google and Apple look like saints by comparison.
        
         | tcfhgj wrote:
         | Can you expand and provide sources?
        
       | rmason wrote:
       | It isn't just TV. All household appliances are adopting the same
       | business model - add wifi, sell your data and profit.
       | 
       | Even dishwashers: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/i-wont-
       | connect-my-dis...
       | 
       | Is there an opening to have appliances that lack connectivity as
       | a selling feature?
        
         | hammock wrote:
         | What data does my dishwasher have that someone would buy?
        
           | BLKNSLVR wrote:
           | I'm the linked article it says that specific features of the
           | dishwasher require an app to run. Apps can generally find out
           | other information about you and your habits from your phone.
           | 
           | It's gross.
        
           | maximus-decimus wrote:
           | You really have to wonder if they put microphones/cameras in
           | those to spy on you.
        
       | add-sub-mul-div wrote:
       | Roku's video ad experiment is the thing that got me to finally
       | set up AdGuard. Now every one of my devices is improved. Thanks
       | Roku?
        
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       (page generated 2025-03-28 23:01 UTC)