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Proposed Bill Would Ban Microtargeting of Political Advertisements (arstechnica.com) 120

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Internet-based advertising has been a boon for both political campaigns and disinformation campaigns, which love to take advantage of the ability to slice and dice the electorate into incredibly tiny and carefully targeted segments for their messaging. These ads -- which may or may not be truthful and are designed to play very specifically on tiny groups -- are incredibly difficult for regulators, researchers, and anyone else not in the targeted group to see, identify, analyze, and rebut. Google prohibits this kind of microtargeting for political ads, while Twitter tries not to allow any political advertising. Facebook, on the other hand, is happy to let politicians lie in their ads and continue microtargeting on its platform. Members of Congress have challenged Facebook and its CEO to explain this stance in the face of rampant disinformation campaigns, but to no avail.

Lawmakers now want to go further and make this kind of microtargeting for political advertising against the law. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) today introduced a bill (PDF) that would amend federal election law to do just that. The proposed Banning Microtargeted Political Ads Act would do exactly what it says. Platforms and campaigns covered by the law, and their agents, would be prohibited from targeting "the dissemination of a political advertisement" to "an individual or specific group of individuals on any basis." The text includes a few exceptions. For example, geographic targeting -- aiming for people in a certain region, instead of matching a certain demographic profile -- would be fair game. But the proposed bill also includes a loophole you could fit the White House through: anyone who has provided "express affirmative consent" to receive microtargeted political advertising would be subject to it. In other words, anyone who ticks off a check box somewhere without actually reading the terms and conditions -- which is everyone -- could find themselves added to an "opt in" list.

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Proposed Bill Would Ban Microtargeting of Political Advertisements

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  • Would 'Express Affirmative Assent' include mindlessly clicking 'Ok' to accept default terms?

  • by Frank Burly ( 4247955 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @06:07PM (#60113014)

    This seems almost certain to violate the first Amendment, either from a free association or free speech angle. But, after two minutes of thought, I think compelled speech accompanying the message and disclosing 1) that the recipient is being microtargeted, and 2) the specific criteria used to microtarget them-- would have the almost same effect and has some support in existing political advertising law. I would also favor consumer protection policies that would probably make such targeting less micro.

    No I did not RTFA

    • It is, but that hasn't stopped idiots yet.
    • As well as the disclosure of micro-targeting, I would like to see a kind of AI analyzed transparency about the motivations behind the "speech acts" that are directed at you in these political persuasion pieces.

      Speech Act theory, also known as Utterance theory, essentially says people communicate with language for very particular purposes. In terms of proximate cause, the utterer wants your brain/mind to visit this concept (or referred to object or actor or situation aspect) followed by this one, followed by
      • by tippen ( 704534 )
        User name checks out because that is nuts and naive at an impressive level.
        • Remember: Impossible + 10 years = implemented (and no longer considered AI by wisehats)
        • Actually, username was chosen when JW Bush decided that all vaguely arabic / tanned looking people were guilty of 9/11 (actually done by some wahabist extremist terrorists from Saudi), so it would be cool to go invade Iraq (actually run by an enemy of the wahabists) to teach all of the dirty buggers a lesson (if I may paraphrase).

          Happily, the username is even more relevant again nowadays.
    • by msauve ( 701917 )
      "This seems almost certain to violate the first Amendment"

      Perhaps, perhaps not.

      If you take the wide ranging view, there are already lots of laws in place which violate that - advertising cigarettes on TV, political ads, more. If you read the Constitution, it's free "speech" and "press". The Internet (and TV, and radio) is neither, it's an electronic medium which the founders never envisioned. It's not a Gutenberg press, and it's not someone speaking. So, it's not covered by a strict reading of the 1st A.
      • by JBMcB ( 73720 )

        If you read the Constitution, it's free "speech" and "press".

        And it's interpreted to mean the freedom of expression by, pretty much, every lawyer and court in the country. Therefore, it's extended to any medium that communicates such expression.

        https://www.law.cornell.edu/co... [cornell.edu]

        The Internet (and TV, and radio) is neither, it's an electronic medium which the founders never envisioned.

        The founders didn't envision a lot. They knew things would change. That's why there's a provision to change the constitution if necessary.

        If you disagree with that view, you also need to defend why the 2nd doesn't cover all firearms created since colonial muskets. Why are modern high speed printing presses or copiers different than automatic rifles in Constitutional terms?

        An automatic rifle is a purchasable good, which the courts have ruled can be more regulated than speech. In any case, you can still buy fully automatic mach

        • It's good modern free speech ideas include the associated concepts of mass production and distribution (and your right to receive it) but that's no reason at all to disregard the printing press right as a separate right. Rather, this buttresses it.

          These are all wins in a long, historical process. Never feel secure things couldn't roll back the other way if nobody pays attention.

          • We have, for example, at least one former Democratic candidate who wants laws to hurt companies that allow hate speech. And politicians line up on both sides to threaten 230 protections because the tech companies are self-censoring the wrong way.

            Speech continues to be under assault from politicians. Do not let your guard down.

        • by msauve ( 701917 )
          "...it's interpreted to mean the freedom of expression"

          Whoosh. It says what it says. It also says "Congress shall make no law..." Congress is the feds, so the states are free to restrict speech and press all they want, and form religions, too. "Interpret" all you want, saying that red means green is disingenuous, just like saying growing corn in your garden is interstate commerce.
          • by JBMcB ( 73720 )

            Whoosh. It says what it says.

            It does. The bill of rights were never meant to be an exhaustive list of protections. See the eleventh amendment. The constitution didn't explicitly give you the right to drink alcohol, but it took a constitutional amendment to prohibit that right.

          • by Zak3056 ( 69287 )

            Whoosh. It says what it says. It also says "Congress shall make no law..." Congress is the feds, so the states are free to restrict speech and press all they want, and form religions, too.

            If only there was something in the constitution to extend federally recognized rights to the state level. Oh, there is?

            XIV: No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

      • "This seems almost certain to violate the first Amendment" Perhaps, perhaps not. If you take the wide ranging view, there are already lots of laws in place which violate that - advertising cigarettes on TV, political ads, more. If you read the Constitution, it's free "speech" and "press". The Internet (and TV, and radio) is neither, it's an electronic medium which the founders never envisioned.

        Dictionary definitions of both "speech" and "press" at the time covered any communication (both "speech" and "press").

        It's not a Gutenberg press,

        No, it's not. The "press" did, at that time, include people, unless you want to argue that "members of the press" means people are components of an actual mechanical machine.

        and it's not someone speaking. So, it's not covered by a strict reading of the 1st A. If you disagree with that view, you also need to defend why the 2nd doesn't cover all firearms created since colonial muskets. Why are modern high speed printing presses or copiers different than automatic rifles in Constitutional terms?

        Looks to me like you support this initiative that allows the government to approve what political messages are published; so, tell me, do you want Trump approving the messages you are allowed see, or do you want a Clinto

        • by msauve ( 701917 )
          You've never heard of a "devil's advocate", have you?

          But, to continue the point - you want to extend "speech and press" unquestionably to encompass new media. Yet, there's an oft-heard argument that that since modern weapons didn't exist at the time, the 2nd A doesn't cover them.

          Another commenter claimed that firearms could be regulated more than the Internet because they were "purchasable goods", ignoring that the Internet is entirely bits which flow over "purchasable goods." I wonder if they would acce
          • You've never heard of a "devil's advocate", have you? But, to continue the point - you want to extend "speech and press" unquestionably to encompass new media.

            No. There is no extension. "Speech" and "Press" were words independent of communications medium. You are trying to sell the argument that the constitution authors meant "verbal expressions only" and "printed media only", but if they wanted to limit those freedoms to a particular medium then they could have.

            They didn't specify freedom to use a medium, they specified freedom regardless of medium.

            Yet, there's an oft-heard argument that that since modern weapons didn't exist at the time, the 2nd A doesn't cover them.

            And that argument is equally baseless. If the authors wanted to limit "arms" to mean "these types of guns", they

    • When does "microtargeting" become "macrotargeting"? If you cannot reliably define that transition - there is no effective difference and thus you either give all the information about ANY ad, or give no information about any ad.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Doesn't seem like a 1A issue, there are already laws banning certain types of targeting for ads (e.g. excluding certain races) and on disclosure of the source of political advertising.

      From what we know of what people like Cambridge Analytica did it was borderline psychological abuse. Find vulnerable victims and exploit their fears and insecurities directly.

      • Doesn't seem like a 1A issue, there are already laws banning certain types of targeting for ads (e.g. excluding certain races) and on disclosure of the source of political advertising.

        From what we know of what people like Cambridge Analytica did it was borderline psychological abuse. Find vulnerable victims and exploit their fears and insecurities directly.

        Good luck banning politics, because that's all it is.

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Nah, you don't need to ban politics, just collection of and abuse of marketing data. We already do that quite successfully in some other areas.

  • Micro-targeting is a fancy word for going from door to door and campaigning for a particular candidate.

    Not sure why people would want to regulate free speech, let's see ... D-Calif. ... that explains it.

    • by Motard ( 1553251 )

      It's not like going door to door.

      • If I have a list of people in my area known to be in a particular party and I knock only on those doors how is that different than online micro targeting?

        Because "it's just like door to door... but in the cloud!"
        • by RTFMorGTFO ( 6868814 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @07:23PM (#60113296)
          Because micro-targeting keys off additional information that aren't on voter rolls. Information like who's susceptible to conspiracy theories.

          Micro-targeting allows political campaigns to run deceitful ads to targeted audiences, hiding their activities from the general public. Without micro-targeting, outlandish ads are seen by everyone and can be debated publicly. You can't have public debate in microcosms and that's a huge problem with Facebook today.
        • If I have a list of people in my area known to be in a particular party and I knock only on those doors how is that different than online micro targeting? Because "it's just like door to door... but in the cloud!"

          No.

          You have a list of immigrants living in your area which hate X (f.e. a particular type of foreigners), you send them a message which says "Joe Bloggs will prohibit import of those and allow you to import more of your relatives".

          You at the same time target the natives with a message of "Joe Bloggs will prohibit import of all foreigners period"

          Example from UK with actual messaging used in the BrExit campaign: https://www.theguardian.com/co... [theguardian.com]

    • by khchung ( 462899 )

      Micro-targeting is a fancy word for going from door to door and campaigning for a particular candidate.

      Microtargeting is the exact OPPOSITE of going door to door.

      It is the ability to go to *specific* doors of your choosing.

      Say, you want to spread disinformation to Trump supports, you can target ads to people who have recently bought MAGA caps, been to specific conference center at a specific time (who happened to had a Trump rally at that time). By targeting those ads to only specific audience, you effectively hide them from enquiring minds that could have exposed your lies.

      That's not bad enough? How about

    • by poity ( 465672 )

      It's too powerful, as it allows customized messaging. Now that Republicans have caught up on social media engagement, it's no longer a good thing.

      • by Zak3056 ( 69287 )

        It's too powerful, as it allows customized messaging. Now that Republicans have caught up on social media engagement, it's no longer a good thing.

        That does seem to be the issue, doesn't it? "It was fantastic in 2008 and 2012, but in 2016 the wrong candidate won, so we need to do something about this."

    • In USA micro-targeting means going after low-information purple state voters. The fact that it's even an issue means that democracy has failed.
      • Talking to people about their biggest concerns is a failure of democracy? If anything, it's a failure of unlimited democracy and the unjustified idea government is there to address every single little itch someone has.

  • Microtargeting (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cygnusvis ( 6168614 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @06:11PM (#60113034)
    I don see the problem if people are targeted for advertisements because of info they gave freely to Facebook. Dont want to be advertised based on our interested? Dont divulge your interests.
    • LOL! Grandpa, you are completely not comprehending what they know about your interests.

      For example, every single purchase with a credit card you ever made. And try renting a hotel, or a car, or buying an airplane ticket with cash. Fill out a form, like at the DMV that becomes public record.

      The tracking part is pervasive. They know everything about your interests already. This has nothing to do with divulging interests.

      And the main point of the proposed law is prevent demographic targeting, it has nothing to

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • You don't comprehend it.

          You don't have to intentionally share anything for them to know about it. They have all the records. All the records. Of anything. Stored anywhere. You think they don't have all your data. You think they don't know what TP you buy, what porn you watch, where you vacation, where you wish you vacation, where that thing you don't like to talk about happened, they know all the stuff already. They already have it all.

          You're not a fucking unicorn, you're a moron.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Most of it isn't divulged, it's inferred. Those Facebook like and share buttons you see everywhere are actually tracking people and adding that information to their profiles.

      If you live in the GDPR zone try sending some Subject Access Requests to Facebook or marketing companies like Experian. You will be surprised how much they know despite you not telling them. Don't forget to ask for a list of companies that they share with and receive information from, and then enact your right to a permanent opt-out.

    • You don't see the problem with the dumbest of people most susceptible to advertisement being advertised to specifically for political gain?

      These people vote.

  • Can people just ditch this shithole now?

    • I doubt it, most of them aren't even wise enough to install an ad blocker.

      • Or perhaps they realize that if everyone installed an ad blocker, most of the internet would disappear almost overnight - it costs money to produce and serve content, a LOT of money for polished content or popular sites. And for now, ads are usually the best and easiest way to pass that cost on to the people consuming the content.

        Nah, who am I kidding, most people don't care, and would probably horrible malware by mistake if they tried to block ads.

        Now trackers on the other hand - %$#@ that $#@!. Quite a

        • That's not true, the internet wouldn't disappear. They'd either sell slashdot for $5k, or the users would migrate to another site. That would have the same users.

          The idea that we have the internet because of advertising is just a malicious lie, that is ignorant both of history, and of the range of content available now.

          • So, who pays the bills then? Hosting and managinga website isn't free. Much less producing content

            Without advertising we'd have business and university sites, personal vanity sites paid for out of pocket (so long as they don't get so popular that hosting costs overwhelm their owner), and whatever collaborative sites can collect enough donations or subscriptions to pay the bills. Just as we did back in the 90s before advertising took off.

            Youtube wouldn't exist. Slashdot might - Soylent manages okay on don

            • That's not even your concern unless it is your website.

              Know that advertising is not the only source on income on planet Earth. Know that there are lots of other reasons that people make websites. Know that people already thought about that part, you fucking dumb ass, jebus.

              • It is my concern if I want the internet to continue to exist as a platform for the middle and lower classes to express themselves.

                As for all these other great ways to fund a website - please, name a few. Preferably with examples of sites currently using them. I'm sure there's thousands of popular ones out there, right? What with them being so effective and all?

                • Why would the lower classes need commercial pap?

                  Why wouldn't they be better served by community-driven sites?

                  You just wave your hands and assume these media companies are good for everybody, even for people who might not want them.

                  • Who said anything about commercial pap? Anything run for commercial purposes would be fine, aside from those whose only purpose for existing is generating ad revenue.

                    If a community-driven site is popular it's going to generate a lot of traffic, which means large hosting bills. Who's going to pay those bills? You planning to make regular donations to every site you frequently visit? You expect everyone else to as well? There are success stories there, but there's a lot more failures. Ads are a convenien

  • I think both Twitter and Facebook already have the right idea regarding this. Either you decide that you just won't allow any of it at all because your company shouldn't be deciding what's acceptable political speech (the Twitter approach) or you decide that you will allow all of it because your company should be deciding what's acceptable political speech (the Facebook approach).

    If political ads are spreading some kind of truly serious lie we already have a court system for dealing with defamation. Of c
    • by mark-t ( 151149 )

      I think that the Facebook approach is fine, as long as in order to qualify as a political advertisement which cannot be censored, the ad should *explicitly* state which organization or person is sponsoring it, and that Facebook is at least able to easily verify that the information in the ad about who was sponsoring it is accurate (presumably the source that Facebook got the ad from). The veracity of any other content should be irrelevant.

      I'm a hundred percent for allowing people to make up their own

    • I agree with your initial all-or-none opinion, but unfortunately the court system is slow enough to be worthless for most political purposes, and even if it was instant, it's still worthless if you don't even know that a deceitful microtargetted ad is being run in the first place, so I think "none" is the only reasonable option.

      It seems to me that a total ban on micro-targetted ads is probably the best (legislative) approach. All of them - who gets to decide whether they're political or not? Given the in-d

  • Ban Microtargeting of Political Advertisements

    How does this not essentially ban speaking to individuals.

    Why on earth would anyone even propose this ban? Do they seriously think it will stop a politician from promising different small groups opposing things?

    The most Karen bill evar.

    • Ban Microtargeting of Political Advertisements

      How does this not essentially ban speaking to individuals.

      Because they will write it using words, and their words won't be that stupid.

    • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
      I think the bit that MIGHT make this ok as far as free speech goes is that it's ultimately up to the individual whether they want to listen to their free speech or not. The advertisers are still allowed to make blanket ad, or microtarget to anyone that wants to receive them. It's just giving the users the choice to ignore the ads if they're microtargetted..
  • Facebook wants more of it, and political campaigns spend a lot of it - in recent elections they want to spend a lot on microtargeted campaigns, because they only want to spend money on the gullible monkeys (err.. swayable/undecided).

    The end.

  • by Snotnose ( 212196 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @06:43PM (#60113146)
    Law makers routinely pass laws banning robo-calls, but exempt themselves from said laws. Are the shit stains actually gonna outlaw skidmarks? I somehow doubt it.
  • by grep -v '.*' * ( 780312 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @06:48PM (#60113168)
    Why would you want to do this? I want sweet nothings to be whispered in my ear by politicians.

    Hell, they've already fscked me over, I might as well get SOME satisfaction from it.
  • 1st Amendment!

  • Politicians as such are professional liars. I am not being cynical, btw, although it may seem that way. It's just what their job is. They push their side of an issue and divert attention away from any counterpoints. Being able to do that successfully is what makes a politician successful. ALL political speech, without exception, involves lying. Disallowing lying in political ads would open Facebook to the type of nitpicking that would *effectively* disallow all political ads.
    • >Disallowing lying in political ads would open Facebook to the type of nitpicking that would *effectively* disallow all political ads.

      Sounds like a total win to me, *especially* if you believe all politicians are professional liars.

      Personally I'd love to see any public lying by politicians (or political action committees) automatically classified as treason and eligible for the death penalty if proven - it is after all a direct attack on the integrity of democracy, and thus on the country. Corruption to

      • I suspect that would have an immensely positive effect on the quality of political discourse.

        It wouldn't be political discourse. It would be academic discourse or maybe even scientific discourse. Political speech, at its core, is an attempt to persuade. This is as true in Democracies as it is in the staunchest of dictatorships. What you are proposing amount to a ban on all political discourse. Worse yet, you are proposing a death penalty for the "crimes" of omitting facts from oratory presentations despite the fact that all oratory is constrained by limited time and must be narrow in scope. R

        • Or here's a thought - don't lie. Persuasion does not require lying - lying just makes it easier, especially if you're trying to persuade people to let you screw them over.

          Lets take the current COVID situation - there's lots of completely honest, compelling arguments to be made both for and against opening things up. There's also an onslaught of lies around it that contribute nothing to making a well informed decision. Would anything of value really be lost if we dropped the lies from the conversation?

          As

          • Persuasion does not require lying - lying just makes it easier, especially if you're trying to persuade people to let you screw them over.

            Yes and no. Consider the fact that an adequate description of any scenario requires omitting details which are unimportant. Trying to list all the details would effectively require one to describe the whole state of the world because everything is somehow interconnected. But the same details could be important to someone with different considerations. From the perspective of that person, the omitted details would amount to lying by omission.

            As for elections - they have nothing whatsoever to do with reducing lying in politics - quite the opposite in fact.

            As I tried to show in the paragraph above, showing a different

            • A simple solution would be to allow lies of omission, trusting "the other side" to bring up those details, and restrict treason to direct falsehoods - which would at least prevent the "omission liar" from denying those points when they are brought up and creating a "reality gap".

              Politician 1: A, B, and C, so we must X!
              Politician 2: But you're ignoring D and E, which mean that Xing will cause Y, to devastating effect!

              Today P1 is free to say D and E are lies, or that Xing will not cause Y, even in the face o

              • Ok, let's try this (for the sake of a demonstration). Was the "we were using an alternative set of facts" remark a lie? It was if "alternative" means not the ones which were supported by reality. But it wasn't if it meant we were talking about a different set of facts. The number of people who "saw" the inauguration on TV fell. But the number of people who saw them on both TV and Internet combined went up. The "alternative" set of facts would be the combined viewership. But the TV programs would like
                • So, you need to cite a reputable source for your "alternative facts". If you can't make a credible claim to truth, you're lying. If you claim a near-empty courtyard is fuller than ever before, you're lying. If your "facts" are actually opinions without a basis in evidence, you've failed to do your due diligence, and are lying.

                  • But what if you are not making your claims this specific? What if your claims are vaguely stated and the counterpoints are also vaguely stated? Neither side is lying per se. They are talking about different contexts without specifying what those contexts are. Again, remember that this is oratory that is constrained by time and scope.
                  • If you claim a near-empty courtyard is fuller than ever before, you're lying.

                    I hope you realize that from the perspective of a person who thinks that the statement was made about overall viewership, this attribution (that you just made) is a lie. I do get that it's a hypothetical and was merely a suggestion, but this is not the only perspective. And there *is* a perspective from which this statement is a lie and, by the standard you suggest, it would qualify you for the death penalty. Which, I hope you agree, makes no sense.

  • by Tailhook ( 98486 ) on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @07:21PM (#60113290)

    Karens everywhere demand it.

  • Will be crushed 9-0 by the Supreme Court. It singles out political ads, the most-protected of all speech.

    I guess it's the thought that counts, if your thoughts run to government restricting talk about its composition and who gets elected.

    You know who else liked restricting speech about himself in government? Sorry, there's only a 500 gigabyte post limit.

    • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
      The part that makes this at least possibly not a free speech issue is the fact that the users are given a choice. The advertisers are still allowed to make blanket ads that anyone would receive. The advertisers are also still allowed to make microtargetted ads. The user is just able to choose whether they want to see the microtargetted ads.
  • Sometimes I think "targeted advertising" is just a scam to take money from advertisers.

    It seems like the "targeting" algorithms are at best performing on the level of simple key word searches, and often much more poorly. I can't remember the last time I saw an ad that actually promoted something I would have any interest in. The political ads that I see clearly demonstrate a complete lack of insight into my political preferences (probably because I am profoundly disappointed in all politicians).

  • These platforms are publishers, they should be treated as such. I have no issue whatsoever with Facebook, Google or Twitter putting rules and regulations around what they allow. They are private companies, they should be free to determine what kind of environment they want to create, what kind of actions and behaviours they want to support. They are not obliged to support some misguided notion of free speech where everyone gets to say whatever nonsense they like and be treated equally. But they can't then t

    • They are publishers? Try publishing a comic book extolling how much better off we'd be if Hitler or Stalin had taken over the world.

      "False claims" - that's the hard part. You can cherrypick data to prove just about anything. There are racists, flat-earthers, antiVaxxers and celltower burners to show it.

    • It still breaks my brain that people use Google, Twitter or Facebook and don't understand that their data is being collected and shared.

      I don't know about Facebook or Twitter, but Google doesn't share data. You don't sell a goose that lays golden eggs. Much more profitable to keep the data and sell targeted ad space/clicks.

      • Sure, I didn't get that quite right. Google sells a specific way to use your data in the ability to target you based on certain factors.

        • Sure, I didn't get that quite right. Google sells a specific way to use your data in the ability to target you based on certain factors.

          Sort of. Advertisers don't really get to specify that much about their targeting goals. A little, but not much, because Google is better at figuring out how to do the targeting than they are.

  • by reanjr ( 588767 )

    The summary doesn't bother to explain what the problem is with targeted political ads. Why would that be a problem?

    They're not concerned with the fact that political ads lie, but they want to make sure the lies go to everyone?

  • A bit late for the UK, Cambridge Analytica and their microtargetted (usually fake) meme's did the trick in shifting public opinion to the point they became turkeys voting for Christmas.
  • There is absolutely no chance this is going to go anywhere since it would hurt both parties by removing tools they use to reach their core constituencies. It also makes it prohibitively expensive to advertise to anything but the largest demographics, meaning that issues that concern minorities (racial and demographic) will be ignored.

    Also I think it's fascinating how these things seem to focus on the person providing the service, not the person procuring it. I imagine this is wrapped up in a free speech ar

  • Targeted advertising equal manipulation.

Stinginess with privileges is kindness in disguise. -- Guide to VAX/VMS Security, Sep. 1984

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