Via today's QZ newsletter qz.com/emails/quartz-… :

"72%: Americans who worry that what they do online is being tracked by companies"

Yes, users do not want to be tracked.
"40%-60%: The (rather low) accuracy rate when two companies try to match the cookie data they have on the same set of consumers"

Ad tech's promises, even in current 3rd party cookie era, of truly addressable ads are bullshit b/c it is built on bad data!

qz.com/2000490/the-de…
"2.7%: Increased likelihood that a person will buy something from an ad that uses cookies vs one that does not, according to one study"

The status quo of cross-site tracking is not commercially useful and it's ethically corrupt so why are people defending it?
It continually baffles me anyone would argue in defense of 3rd party cookies... but then I remember that most ad tech companies make their money being unaccountable black boxes that over promise, under deliver, & cover their tracks while earning billions
QZ also has a great interview with the inventor of the cookie, who joins the inventor of the pop up and the inventors of the banner ad in the club of 'people who invented the fundamental underlying technologies of ad tech and fully regret it'. qz.com/2000350/the-in…
“I’m not particularly sad about the demise of third-party cookies because they were never really that accurate, never really that useful, and in fact I think this whole thing has helped us all to rethink what data matters.” - @sjpretorius

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More from @Chronotope

4 Jun
Look the ad tech industry is a garbage fire of technology most of which is not fit for the purpose of marketing, but is fit for invasive tracking and data collection for eventual sale and even if it manages to increase sales that would be reason enough to fundamentally change it.
Even if the invasive data tracking is a total failure at making coherent useful data profiles because the garbage fire fractures any user's identity by accident of dumb badly designed competition in the marketplace and fraudsters unchecked at any level that would be reason enough
Even if the data tracking can't build targeting in the middle of the system but is enough that one could track data points to understand a user's physical travels and make arbitrary assumptions on that basis about what to target people with, that would be enough reason to reform
Read 11 tweets
3 Jun
Lol not sure how or why the background music for my Spotify Only You was this, but extremely pleased with the outcome. Made the whole viewing feel rather epic. open.spotify.com/track/4UGOaZPk…
Alright, the first one I get, but I had to look up the 2nd genre and apparently "Second line" is brass-heavy upbeat parade music for dancing in the streets during New Orleans funerals. Which I didn't know was a genre, but I'm totally here for!
Wait... How is it possible no one is listening to a song named "Midnight Sky"... at night?
Read 6 tweets
18 May
Capitalism-based health care is the worst. I hate that it's only gotten worse and worse as time goes on, with more and more of the work of health care being put on to the individual and systems that you literally pay for becoming less and less helpful or useful.
For a lot of reasons I hate all ways to find doctors are gradually devolving to Yelp, which not only puts the work on you to find a good doctor but also inevitably undercuts your confidence in any doc you find b/c the wisdom of the crowds is a terrible gateway into medical care.
I do not blame ProPublica for this and am glad for this reporting, but everything has been magnified since I read this - propublica.org/article/top-do… & now search certifications I see in doc offices and the minute I see a bullshit "top doc" plaque I seriously doubt my provider choice
Read 11 tweets
18 May
Has any ad tech company ever had any consequences for any of their major public fkups? Even where it's a major failure of their core product? They just keep chugging along not doing anything properly, don't they?
Like, if I'm a brand, what do I even do as a reaction to stop this from happening again?
No one did anything from this other than shake a finger and say naughty as far as I can tell? digiday.com/media/ad-techs…
Read 7 tweets
17 May
So the NYC subway was locked out by... a badly deployed software patch? Yeah that tracks.
Before adding internet: turnstiles open 24/7

After adding internet: turnstiles go into random lockdown

Hmmmmm...

I'm going to blame Javascript for this one.
This is your periodic reminder to keep using your Metro Card. Unlike with using a credit card or app, when you use a Metro Card no turnstile knows if you're a dog...

Well they know you're definitely not a dog, because dogs don't pay for the subway, but they don't know much else.
Read 5 tweets
29 Mar
Count me among those who consider this "a false distinction." I think there's a flaw in this argument. Eric does a brief steel man that he steps past, but I think has weight: Engagement is required to create scale. Scale is required to make FB successful...
I think this is a good post and his other good posts link to good arguments, so it's worth doing the same thing he did, and trying to understand his argument first:

1. FB doesn't do surveillance marketing t/f surveillance marketing is a myth.
Ok. So let's set aside the first part of the claim and hit the 2nd part. Is only Facebook doing the behavior that is commonly associated with surveillance marketing? ...
Read 72 tweets

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