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0 pointsFridayoLeary4y ago0 comments

The industry standard is to show utter contempt for the user. It's expected that every site will show you tacky and distracting ads and will dump 90 third party cookies on you. It's beyond belief.

Imagine going into a travel agent to inquire about a flight. The moment you step through the door 50 people attach themselves to you. Some start recording your every action in a notebook, others flash torches in your eyes, two of them start showing you a video at the same time. And the rest follow you around holding up large ads. And they carry on following you around even after you leave the store!

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nickpp4y ago

Imagine there is another travel agent not doing all that, but it costs money while the first is free. Wouldn’t you like to have the right to choose which one to visit, or do you prefer that choice to me made for you by politicians instead?

jen204y ago

I would absolutely like the ability to pay for services which do not track or advertise to me. But they don't exist for the most part, and the existence of those services does nothing to diminish the requirement of the ones engaging in poor practice to make their service "free" to obtain _consent_ for what they are doing.

nickpp4y ago

> But they don't exist for the most part

And the current privacy laws in EU make the free services illegal. How is that any better than the scenario where paid services did not exist?

jen204y ago

Because privacy is maintained for those that want it, and those that don't know they want it.

Free services may exist perfectly well:

- They must not invade privacy without obtaining consent

- They must not transfer personal information to jurisdictions with privacy controls which are too lax.

If a business relies on doing either of those two things, it deserves all the problems it has.

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nickpp4y ago

jen204y ago

nickpp4y ago

> But they don't exist for the most part

And the current privacy laws in EU make the free services illegal. How is that any better than the scenario where paid services did not exist?

jen204y ago

Because privacy is maintained for those that want it, and those that don't know they want it.

Free services may exist perfectly well:

- They must not invade privacy without obtaining consent

- They must not transfer personal information to jurisdictions with privacy controls which are too lax.

If a business relies on doing either of those two things, it deserves all the problems it has.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse