Recommendation systems that aim to maximize time spent scrolling should be illegal.
@mauve I think a ban on individual-level ad targeting would have a similar effect
these algorithms are obscenely expensive to build and maintain. If the money incentive for doing that was gone, that business model would collapse
@unktheunk TBH I'd go as far as banning all ads, but I don't think the world is ready for that one :P
@unktheunk Yeah that's fair. IMO ads would be great if they were something people went to search through rather than something forced onto them. E.g. I like watching movie trailers when figuring out stuff to watch, or product reviews/ads when choosing between devices. I even don't mind when online stores learn my preferences when I search on them and give me suggestions related to what I like.
@mauve or if they were unintrustive, like page spreads in magazines, like an ad in an unused corner of the webpage. I think people doing creative work is good, and that donations/grants/subscriptions wouldnt be enough to support the volume of work that I think should be made
I dont think it should be legal for online stores to track your preferences if you havent made an account tho
@mauve I know that's not a thing I'd go for, since ads *can* theoretically have a purpose in society. Letting people know about products/services/events that they wouldn't have otherwise known of and whatnot
Whereas theres and argument to be made that individually targeted ads don't even really work to get people to buy things. And that the main people supporting the surveillance regime aren't the folks trying to sell things, it's "law enforcement" tracking troublemakers