this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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Got this notification when I opened Chrome when coming back to my desk after lunch.

"We changed our privacy settings to allow us to snoop on what you're looking at and shove you ads accordingly. Feel free to opt out, but we'll probably opt you back in when you aren't paying attention."

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[–] BenVimes@lemmy.ca 272 points 2 years ago (22 children)

I'm always a bit amused when these sites and apps say things like, "If you turn off ad personalization, the ads you see won't be as useful to you."

My dude, I don't think I've ever willingly clicked on an ad in my entire life. "Personalizing" them won't change that.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 49 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I used to sometimes. When there was a simple, clean ad for something I was interested in, I would click through.

Mind you, this was in an era when the internet amounted to strings and cans because I'm a fucking dinosaur. Since then, ads first went obnoxious and loud, then they got plastered everywhere, then they started being invasive.

Fuck ads at this point. There's nothing good in them for us at all.

[–] danielbln@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

I don't know, ads were always dog shit. Yeah you had your static banners and what not, but I remember the popup wars from the 90s.

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[–] Snipe_AT@lemmy.atay.dev 190 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

"new privacy feature" and then "sites you visit can determine what you like"

translated: "this new privacy feature reduces the amount privacy you have!!! what a great thing you like!!!"

[–] name_NULL111653@pawb.social 45 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Idk why the heck you just got downvoted into oblivion for pointing out the irony in google calling this a "privacy feature." Good old reddit moment it seems.

[–] Snipe_AT@lemmy.atay.dev 30 points 2 years ago (7 children)

lol it's no worries. actually I have the privilege of being bot-downvoted by CCP sympathizers because of comments on this post https://lemmy.world/post/2338419, there is also the possibility that I’m just an asshole.

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[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 146 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It's funny how small incremental changes over the years felt like nothing big was happening and then at some point we all woke up to a world where the largest advertising firm in the world basically is the internet for the vast majority of people. Everyone uses chrome and rarely types in a web address, they just type the name of the thing into Google and trust mommy to show them what's appropriate. They've back doored the entire population into basically what AOL was trying to be 20 years ago.

"we are going to help protect your privacy" from WHO Google? Is it from you? Because it seems like we need protection from you most of all. Constantly being gaslit by mega-corporations is the new American dream. It's okay because they love us, deep down, and we know that even though they don't show it.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 16 points 2 years ago (2 children)

small incremental changes over the years felt like nothing big was happening and then at some point we all woke up

I (and many others I presume) has been saying Chrome is shit since the beginning. It didn't feel like nothing was happening, it felt like we were slowly getting to the old days of IE and Netscape.

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[–] AWittyUsername@lemmy.world 91 points 2 years ago (1 children)
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[–] jimrob4@midwest.social 86 points 2 years ago (7 children)

This is why I use Linux at home, along with TOR and a VPN. I'm not doing anything other than looking up woodworking and camping stuff, but fuck all ya'll for being nosy.

[–] senoro@lemmy.ml 59 points 2 years ago (2 children)
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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 66 points 2 years ago

I'm already seeing all the ads I want to see.

Fucking. None.

[–] Cybermass@lemmy.world 65 points 2 years ago (4 children)
[–] generic@iusearchlinux.fyi 33 points 2 years ago

With uBlock origin!

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[–] stebo02@lemmy.dbzer0.com 57 points 2 years ago (3 children)

From where comes the idea that personalised ads are good? I hate this timeline.

[–] Send_me_nude_girls@feddit.de 23 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Google is a large company, they need to pay their employees and server. It's pretty entitled of you to expect them to work for free. /s

I read this everywhere these days. Shilling has become culture.

[–] stebo02@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 2 years ago (7 children)

No I understand why websites show ads. I don't understand why whenever I disable personal ads, I get a message saying "Are you really sure? If you disable this you won't see your favourite ads anymore and only see ads for things you probably don't want to buy. That'd be awful wouldn't it?" and expect me to change my mind because that's definitely not why I wanted to disable it in the first place.

They act as if people like to see ads because then they can buy stuff they think they want/need. And I'm getting afraid that's actually true for a lot of people too.

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[–] youthinkyouknowme@lemmy.dbzer0.com 51 points 2 years ago (1 children)

more choices over ads you see

Who in their right mind want to see ads

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[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 49 points 2 years ago (19 children)
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[–] Shush@reddthat.com 48 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I've never, not once in my life, saw an ad which managed to make me buy something.

It doesn't matter what it's selling. The fact that it's disrupting whatever I'm doing or making my experience worst makes me refuse to buy whatever it's selling, and it doesn't matter how personalized it'll get. I will never be influenced to buy something just because I saw it on an ad.

This feature will literally do nothing for me. I'll still block ads, or if they are unblockable for any reason, I'll just ignore them until they're done.

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 35 points 2 years ago (2 children)

true, but remember the ads are mostly subconcious. you often wont think about buying something after seeing an ad, but in the back of your mind you might have a slightly better opinion, or mental association to the brand. so next time you go to buy a product your more likely to remember that brand and buy from them. as much as i would like to believe otherwise, no-one is immune to propaganda

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago (3 children)

If you’re the type of person who buys new things often then yes. But if you buy the exact same stuff that you’ve been purchasing for 30 years, ads aren’t going to impact you today.

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[–] XLRV@lemmy.ml 48 points 2 years ago

"More useful ads" Well the best ads is no ads.

[–] Kekzkrieger@feddit.de 45 points 2 years ago (11 children)

Many friends of mine are like saying why would i care i'd rather see ads that are relevant than ones that arent. Like dude i dont want ads at all and i dont want my data to be used to influence my buying behavior.

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[–] gndagreborn@lemmy.world 42 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Wonderful, my day is complete. Thank you Alphabet for providing me a choice in which flavor of dystopian nightmare I'd prefer.

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[–] 1984@lemmy.today 33 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It really is unfortunate that almost all their users are asleep at the wheel and don't care.

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[–] ExLisper@linux.community 33 points 2 years ago (9 children)

Question: if personalized ads are so great, why can't I just go into my google account's settings and put there all the info about me? My income, my interests, ages of my children, my favorite food... Since personalized ads are so good every google users will just fill it in to get the best ads possible, right? Why not give people this option instead of implementing all this trackers?

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[–] mojo@lemm.ee 32 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Ah the privacy sandbox that was overwhelming disagreed with, but that Google forced onto the web because they're a monopoly.

The only time I see ads is when I look into someone else's screen

[–] Heavybell@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago

You should swap to something else. Anything else, tho ideally something that actually respects your privacy like Firefox. If more people did, maybe WEI would not be on the horizon.

[–] gabriele97@lemmy.g97.top 22 points 2 years ago (3 children)

This is why I decided to migrate to Firefox a few days ago

[–] sadreality@kbin.social 17 points 2 years ago (2 children)
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[–] eruchitanda@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

> Privacy

> Chrome

Yeah..

[–] FreddyNO@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

Fuck google

[–] AlpacaChariot@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Why are you using chrome if you care about things like this?

[–] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 18 points 2 years ago (5 children)
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[–] PeterPoopshit@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 years ago

I'm poor and I hate stupid bullshit. The only way to personalize ads for me is to make them go away.

[–] HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 years ago

"Give us your preference data to prevent your preference data from being used in advertising."

[–] Rooki@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Why tho? Just block ads at all. They just want to be "friendly" when the web drm changes hit

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[–] Sygheil@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

“We changed our privacy settings to allow us to snoop on what you’re looking at and shove you ads accordingly. Feel free to opt out, but we’ll probably opt you back in when you aren’t paying attention.”

-Me wiping the coffee I spat after reading this. Hilarious 😂

[–] Frederic@beehaw.org 13 points 2 years ago (5 children)
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