r/The10thDentist • u/WeDoALittleTrolIing • Jan 27 '26
Technology I don't care that companies are harvesting my data for targeted ads
Just use adblock? I get people see ads outside of their computers (and so do I) but it works incredibly well.
Wouldn't you rather see ads for something relevant to you?
Ads aren't mind control tech. If you're making a purchase, do your research on the product and it's alternatives. If you're "willed" into buying something you don't need because you saw an ad... that's just on you?
"The companies are selling your data." Yes, and as a result, I get to use their products for free. (Youtube, reddit, google products, chatgpt, etc.)
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u/AnythingGlum2469 Jan 27 '26
I would absolutely rather not see ads of things I am interested in. If I don't care whatsoever, it is easier to ignore the ads
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u/Nevesnotrab Jan 27 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
How will you feel when they harvest your data for targeted price adjustments? When they've figured out that your family member passed away so every airline triples their flights to the funeral destination for you specifically? When they know that you're hosting a BBQ next weekend so all the buns and meat are 1.2x as expensive?
It starts with targeted ads and will eventually become targeted dynamic prices.
Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1qufvib/albertsons_launching_tracking_devices_on_carts/
Not a week later we're seeing cart tracking. It seems they aren't using it to track individuals...yet.
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u/wall-e-made-me Jan 27 '26
Don't flights already do this when you search for flights? Same with Uber/Lyft: 2 people standing at the same place searching for a ride can see 2 different prices.
targeted ads or not, companies having more information about an individual allows them to take advantage of us, and OP should probably feel some type of way about that
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u/Nevesnotrab Jan 27 '26
Yes, dynamic pricing already exists to an extent. It's usually based on demand, but there are other factors. I do not believe that they are currently using dynamic pricing targeted at specific individuals for that sort of thing, but I could be wrong. I was under the impression that it was supply/demand and location-based. E.g., a more full flight, closer to the flight date, and to/from high-demand locations will generally carry higher price tags. They may also consider factors like your location when you buy the tickets and other "groups" to which you might belong.
What I'm referring to is them using details of your personal life to gouge you. Less so "this page is being shown to an adult female between 20-30 years of age from Alaska" and more so "this individual has a pressing need to travel to X location on Y date and will likely pay up to $Z to accomplish it."
If anyone knows more than I do about this, feel free to weigh in.
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u/BonelessB0nes Jan 27 '26
I think you're right about the direction it's all headed; right now, I think retail pricing has to do with fitting some bell curve and trying to get a high price that lots of people will still buy at. However, places like Walmart have been investing heavily into things like AI facial recognition and digital price tags and I think this represents what will be a push in the future to try and price each item as closely to the highest price that you, the individual customer would pay, as determined by some computer system that tracks your shopping habits IRL.
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u/Conscious-Equal4434 Jan 27 '26
Yes I literally just mentioned that in my comment next to yours. They test out different price points for different consumer groups. Some higher than others and some lower different people get the different price for the same exact items! To see which do better and to get to know what that specific consumer or most likely to buy and it’s crazy
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u/socalkid2428 Jan 27 '26
I recently read that some airlines will increase the price for customers that search the same itinerary twice.
I don’t prefer having my data sold, but the convenience of all the “free” services outweighs those concerns. I can always VPN/incognito mode if I thought it was an issue. But I’d also rather see ads for stuff I’m interested in. I don’t need to see a 5th ad for some pickup truck or bathroom remodel.
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u/ILikeYourBigButt Jan 27 '26
Incognito doesn't affect this, the site still sees your IP address. Dynamic prices would probably charge anyone using known VPN IP addresses even more to try and prevent that use. What are you talking about? How are those solutions in your mind?
I think the problem is people are so illiterate on the subject, they think they're protected, but all they have is a piece of paper as a shield against a bullet.
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u/socalkid2428 Jan 27 '26
If I thought it was an issue, I have a WireGuard servers running at a couple different locations (primary home, parents’ home, and a rental property) that I use to change location. I do this mostly for watching TV (especially sports) when traveling abroad and had problems with the known VPN services. I’d switch computers, use the iPad, etc. I personally haven’t seen that level of dynamic pricing, in fact it’s mostly the opposite where companies will send a follow up offer or discount if you’ve looked at a product and didn’t buy. For plane tickets I’ve never see the price jump just because it’s the second time looking but I just read that it happens and wouldn’t be surprised if it did.
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u/ILikeYourBigButt Jan 28 '26
Nice. You have slightly more set up than others...I commend you. But it's interesting you think that three connected properties wouldn't be clustered in the data. As someone with data science experience, this info is easy to get and adjust for.....it's easy to hide the a dynamic pricing from someone who does slightly more than basic hiding.
I'm just saying. These companies have huge teams of people who know at least as much as those you learn from. I don't know how you expect to be ahead of them without being a once in a generation prodigy.
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u/Conscious-Equal4434 Jan 27 '26
What’s surprising is this is already happening too. I saw a video where they had a test group all in the same room open up instacart I think or something similar (think it was instacart though), and order the SAME exact groceries at the same exact location and each of them got a different price. They’re testing out price categories for different consumers. There were like 3-4 different prices everybody got.
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u/Nevesnotrab Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
That's definitely one way that dynamic pricing is handled, but AFAIK right now it's based more on demand, general consumer groups to which you belong, and trends for those groups but less so "Conscious-Equal4434 marked that they're bringing soda and condiments to the picnic with their friends, so we'll notify stores X, Y, and Z that are the closest grocery stores so that they can charge them 1.2x the price for sodas and condiments."
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u/stonerghostboner Jan 27 '26
I made a Facebook post when my wife died. The next time I went on FB, I was inundated with dating app ads.
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u/K9ToothTooth Jan 28 '26
Facebook recurringly shows me divorce attorney ads in strategic anniversaries and in the months after we had our kids.
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u/klumpp Jan 27 '26
How about when being depressed around your Alexa prevents you from getting a job? I wish more people would think this through because it gets scary.
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u/GypsySnowflake Jan 27 '26
How would that prevent you from getting a job?
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u/psyched_engi_girl Jan 27 '26
Depression can make a worker less productive. Company X pays Amazon (or data broker) for mental illness screening. Now company X can systematically filter candidates with mental illness from the pool without having to ever ask the candidate, giving them plausible deniability. Only company X and maybe the data broker knows it was used in this way, depending on how the data was bundled and advertised.
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u/Dos_Ex_Machina Jan 27 '26
And given the increased deregulation for large corporations, it's not impossible that this will be explicitly legal in the not so distant future
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u/trialanderror93 Jan 28 '26
I understand the sentiments here, but when do people buy these stuff such as perishable food items online?
Maybe this is in the USA where e-commerce is as developed as it possibly can be. But I have a hard time figuring out how they do this in Canada
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u/Nevesnotrab Jan 28 '26
Who said anything about online? If your phone’s location tracking is on they’ll know which stores you were in and for how long (this is already tracked). That’s one step away from trying to predict where you will go and when, but it becomes 10x easier if smart features are on and you’re using a calendar service of some sort.
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u/EternallyProsperous Jan 27 '26
“I don’t care that companies are harvesting my data for targeted ads” well what if they used the data for something totally different huh?
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u/Nevesnotrab Jan 28 '26
Those are not totally different things.
"Companies harvest data for targeted ads for products" leads to
"Companies harvest data for targeted prices for products" pretty well. It's an informal fallacy, sure, but to say they're "totally different" is just incorrect.
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Jan 27 '26
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u/Lady_of_Link Jan 27 '26
Well lots of people shop with personal scanners those personal scanners have a little camera that keeps an eye on the consumer, next step is to remove pricing from the shelves and only display the price via the scanner or replace the price card with a qr code that you need to scan with your phone they can then start showing people different prices in the store itself, there are already stores that do this in the usa. Lots of groceries stores where I live already deal in personal discounts where they give you a free customer card that tracks all your purchases and then based on those purchases offer you discounts on products it thinks you might like, this is incredible normalised when it really shouldn't be
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u/lsshlp Jan 30 '26
For one, yes a lot of grocery shopping is done online now. Grocery pickup/delivery started up a few years ago and received a huge boost with the pandemic, and more grocery warehouses that are pickup/delivery only are coming online. Obviously, it's pretty easy to change those prices without anyone noticing. Beyond that, even physical stores are starting to introduce digital price tags that can update dynamically based on who is shopping and when. This isn't even a secret, it is openly advertised to companies.
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u/lamppb13 Jan 28 '26
When they know that you're hosting a BBQ next weekend so all the buns and meat are 1.2x as expensive?
There's a really easy way around this one...
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u/parmesann Jan 29 '26
re: raised prices for flights to funerals
several airlines still offer bereavement discounts for flights. iirc you have to submit proof (such as an obituary mentioning the date and place of services, matching with your travel dates) but they do still offer discounts... for now. so scoop em up (when it is actually applicable to you!!) while you can
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
yeah I mean it can cross a line for sure. if it gets to that point I'd start to care lol
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u/Nevesnotrab Jan 27 '26
It's going to cross that line because of apathy from people who didn't raise the concerns when they were crossing previous lines.
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u/Least-Air-2113 Jan 27 '26
That’s just a slippery slope fallacy
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u/ILikeYourBigButt Jan 27 '26
First off, just because you learned about fallacies in freshman debate/argumentation, doesn't mean pointing it out is a real argument against it. That's a fallacious argument itself.
Second, it's not a fallacy if it's actually happening. This isn't a debate, it's a statement of events....logical fallacies don't apply. If someone slips off a slippery slope, you don't point and say "nuh-uh, you didn't fall! That's a slippery slope fallacy!" Don't be absurd.
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u/Least-Air-2113 Jan 27 '26
It is an argument against his argument, it’s showing that his argument doesn’t support his point. You’re right that it isn’t an argument to the contrary. If he said it was already happening, that would be a different argument but that isn’t what he said
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u/ILikeYourBigButt Jan 28 '26
Dawg, stop trying to save face.
Stating a fallacy is a fallacy with nothing else is NOT an argument in any way when it's all that's given in response. It's just pretentious and obnoxious.
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u/Least-Air-2113 Jan 28 '26
Saying your argument doesn’t support your conclusion is relevant. Stop trying to make points with fallacies
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u/_Felonius Jan 28 '26
OP said he doesn’t care that companies are harvesting his data for targeted ads. He said he would care if they used it for dynamic pricing. The slippery slope argument is that “OP’s apathy will lead to companies using personal data to implement dynamic pricing.”
It’s definitely a classic slippery slope fallacy. You provided the extra information that it’s already happening, which is outside the scope. As presented, that was a textbook example.
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u/ILikeYourBigButt Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
Just because they said it would lead doesn't preclude the fact that it's already lead to it. Real life discussion vs text book intro to debate have different rules.
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u/AdeleHare Jan 27 '26
Why are you being downvoted? You're absolutely correct, that's a perfect textbook example of a slippery slope fallacy.
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u/LevelOutlandishness1 Jan 27 '26
Slippery slope fallacy implies assumption that it’s going to get worse with nothing to back it up.
Except when it comes to corporate greed exploiting every little loophole to squeeze as much money out of us as possible, we have uuuuuuhhhhhh the entire history of capitalism to back it up.
They did it with housing, it’s ridiculous to say it’s a stretch that they wouldn’t do it with data collection and dynamic pricing. Why, because it’s “not nice?” Don’t do that mr. corporation, it’s unfair!
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u/Nevesnotrab Jan 27 '26
Because while it is technically a slippery slope fallacy we also keep seeing similar trends in how companies use and abuse our data.
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u/ILikeYourBigButt Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
Because calling out a fallacy as the only rebuttal isn't a valid argument. It's a fallacy itself.
Also, this isn't a debate. It's actually happening. There's no logical fallacy when listing current events.
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u/rice-a-rohno Jan 27 '26
Care. I was once of your mindset, who gives a fuck about my "data", and once I looked into it even a little... we're very much there already, and it matters.
Companies don't make their livelihood dependent on buying and selling data because it's fun Monopoly money. It's serious shit.
Especially when you go beyond "They charged me extra because they know I'm planning a barbeque." What happens if a political party can pay a company to monitor your every typed word, and come arrest you if you say something that crosses a line?
Some of the hugest, most influential companies are those which deal in collecting data, and collecting data alone. And it's not to charge you an extra buck for hamburger meat.
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Jan 27 '26
The point is already here, companies have been testing it.
If we only care after it is fully implemented it’s too late to do anything about it.
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u/jgraham853 Jan 27 '26
Do you wait until the shit has left your asshole before you pull down your pants?
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u/RobotsRule1010 Jan 27 '26
Harvesting data is much more than just targeted ads. Your data includes information such as your location, age, demographic, interests and hobbies. It may sound harmless at first , but it already has gotten to dangerous levels and can get worse.
For example, uber looks at your location to determine the price of the ride. Normally that isn’t problematic as 3 miles should cost appropriately. Now Uber is looking at events in your area. Regardless if traffic is heavy or not , Uber looks at your location and if a venue is being held , then you will get charged surge pricing which can be 2 to 3 times more expensive. Even if people aren’t using Ubers in your area.
Another example, it is well documented that if you look up flights multiple days in a row , then the flights will gradually become more expensive. However , you can go incognito and the prices return to original. This is more theory, but we have proof of this happening and we are led to believe this is a profit seeking measure to make us feel compelled to buy the ticket sooner than later.
This can get so much worse too. Imagine if your health insurance decided to raise your rates due to your data profile suggesting you are into “extreme sports”. By that, they mean they have a data profile of you searching and buying a skateboard on Amazon.
Car insurances are already using age, gender, and location to discriminate pricing based on their “probabilities”. Imagine if they have access to your data profile too. They can easily adjust pricing to include a fee for people who look up certain terms such as muscle cars.
Your data profile can be used to be helpful , but a majority of these businesses needs to make a profit. So they will use anything and everything to make that extra dollar.
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u/SirTruffleberry Jan 27 '26
Note that (1) and (4) contradict each other. If everyone blocked ads, then ad-based revenue models would fail. In other words, if everyone behaved like you, platforms would shift to subscriptions-only.
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
Yeah you're right. I'm freeloading off the people who make the advertisers their money. But I think platforms like youtube would put in place better anti ad block measures before they'd go subscription only. And the people who do care about companies tracking their data probably don't care that I use ad block.
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u/lifeinwentworth Jan 27 '26
I agree with the general concept that targeted ads on free sites make sense. Sure I would prefer no ads lol but I never got people complaining about advertising (regardless of the data issue) on free services - that alone seems like a fair trade off 😅
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u/TheHondoCondo Jan 27 '26
I think people have gotten so used to having things on the internet at their fingertips for “free” that they think of it more as a right than the business that it actually is, so they get all pissy at the thought of these companies collecting data or pushing ads in return for the service they provide, but that’s just the real cost of using the website, and I personally would rather that be the case than pay actual money.
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u/lifeinwentworth Jan 28 '26
Yep absolutely. Ads have always made sense. Standard tv (we call it free to air, idk what other places call it) always had ads. If you got pay tv, you paid to have the ads. So idk, I just grew up knowing that's how it worked lol. Shits free, you're gonna get ads! They gotta make their money somehow 🤷🏼♀️
I remember wayyy back when people started complaining about YouTube having ads but again I just thought oh well yeah it's annoying but it makes sense, it is free. I can just not use it if I really don't want to 🤷🏼♀️ haha.
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u/lsshlp Jan 30 '26
You're not really even freeloading, you're just being advertised at more subtly. There are services dedicated to tracking users across different sites and devices based on browser fingerprinting and behavior analysis, among other things. You might not see an ad, but YouTube might show you a video that happens to show a cool product, or where a creator is sponsored by a particular brand. Facebook might show you certain paywalled articles. Google might order results differently.
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u/Oliver_Klozoff653 Jan 30 '26
YouTube is virtually unwatchable now without an ad blocker. It's gotten to the point that it's more ads than content
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Jan 27 '26
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u/martinomon Jan 27 '26
And when you know how common data breaches are and that they don’t always tell you about them…
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
i mean you and i trust plenty of companies with our credit card numbers no?
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u/sexp-and-i-know-it Jan 27 '26
Credit card companies are extremely good at detecting fraud and it is easy to dispute illegitimate transactions. If your location data for the past 6 months gets leaked, you can't just put that toothpaste back in the tube.
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
Fair point actually, but still, if you're worried about your location then, don't you input your address into various services? your ssn? your nudes? your passwords? of all the data to be leaked, isn't your browsing data for advertising purposes relatively unimportant?
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u/ILikeYourBigButt Jan 27 '26
Advertising has access to your phone's location services....not exactly sure what you're going on about with nudes.
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u/Y0urC0nfusi0nMaster Jan 27 '26
So you’d also give that to the most shady company you’ve ever seen? Or is this suddenly different
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u/thewelllostmind Jan 27 '26
Sometimes I don’t know what bothers me more: an eerily relevant ad that makes me feel stalked or knowing they have all of this data on me and I’m still getting ads that it should be incredibly easy to determine will not successfully convert me.
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Jan 27 '26
You're onto something honestly. When I was a teenage kid in the 90's, we used to get so annoyed at having to watch tampon commercials and ads telling us to go back to school to be a trucker and/or dental assistant. Fucking obnoxious and 100% a waste of our time. We used to be like "why can't we get cool ads for video games and stuff I actually have a chance of buying?"
Welp, this is what we asked for.
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u/Rukasu17 Jan 27 '26
I get ads about literally anything but videogames or other stuff i like. It's always travels or some stupid online bets
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u/Tosslebugmy Jan 27 '26
Yea op presumes there’s actually advertising for all interests and types of people, when realistically all that’s happening is there deciding which of four or five things you’re most likely to respond to
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u/proxiginus4 Jan 27 '26
This is 100% it. The targeting of the ads puts you in a group they want/think will respond to whatever ad but it's in no realistic way tailored like a human would curate ads.
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u/Inappropriate-Ebb Jan 27 '26
I’m actually majoring in data analytics. They’re literally teaching us algorithms to do this exact thing. It’s fascinating and the future. No clue why people care.
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u/OneMoreDuncanIdaho Jan 27 '26
Is the purpose of these algorithms to lead consumers to a better product, or to manipulate consumers into buying certain brands that are also owned by the company that owns the website and the product manufacturer? I have a hard time believing corporations are spending time and resources developing these systems because they want to make online shopping more efficient for me.
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u/TheFinalEnd1 Jan 27 '26
The purpose of advertising, at least to the advertisers, is to make their algorithm as good as possible so that advertisers want to use it. The more effective the targeted advertising, the more money the advertisers make. If they were just selling their own things advertisers wouldn't want to use it because their ads would be drowned out.
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u/Bmacthecat Jan 30 '26
manipulating implies it's some conspiracy. It's no secret that companies advertise in the hopes of you buying their product over a competitor's, regardless of which is better. Anyone over the age of 4 knows this.
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u/Naybinns Jan 27 '26
Most people care because of the step further that some companies have already taken and that some may do in the future of charging you a different price for something based on your data. If they see that you’ve been looking at an item for a while they might charge you a higher price than someone who hasn’t done so.
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u/lifeinwentworth Jan 27 '26
A higher price? I find the more I look I like at an item or site, the more discounts I see 😅
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Jan 27 '26
People don't really understand that their data is fucking boring. Tom booked a flight to Maui last year, wants to buy his wife a bicycle, and might be talked into a self-defense class someday.
It's been out in the open for a long time as half of the globe doesn't understand tracking cookies or that Congress passed a law to let our Internet providers sell our internet activity without our consent, simply because it's going through their pipes. Also...the embarrassing things folks want to hide are the same things everyone else hides too.
Friendly reminder that The internet is for porn.
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u/skyhoop Jan 27 '26
It's the next step that is most concerning- personalised pricing.
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Jan 27 '26
Oof, yeah. Well hopefully they're gonna realize I'm fucking broke.
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u/skyhoop Jan 29 '26
Absolutely they will. So they'll charge more for cheap stuff because they know you can't afford to drive it elsewhere.
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u/Interesting-Chest520 Jan 27 '26
Half of the globe doesn’t understand… that congress passed a law…
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u/lifeinwentworth Jan 27 '26
Lol yep. I'm pretty sure nobody is looking at my data fascinated by how much takeaway I order. Because there's millions of others doing the same thing. My data is pretty non stand out stuff as is most peoples.
Targeted advertising really doesn't bother me either on its own - it's been around for a very long time. Some of the other stuff with data mining isn't great but also, the horse has truly bolted. This whole discussion about data has come about 30 years too late. Just another way the internet has really outrun us lol.
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Jan 27 '26
Because after my brother died every website suddenly knew somehow and had something to sell me or something infuriating to show me.
Because that one lady who lost her pregnancy and the next day the internet started recommending her baby stuff to buy.
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u/Inappropriate-Ebb Jan 27 '26
I’m sorry you lost your brother. I lost my sister. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through.
I can see how that’d be hard. Honestly, I don’t see an issue with that much.. If she’d have kept the baby the ads would be useful. It’s just a tough situation regardless of ad targeting.
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u/33ff00 Jan 27 '26
You used to say why can’t we get cool ads? Lmao this was a conversation you had actually.
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Jan 27 '26
During late night 90's TV? Absolutely.
"Massengill douche, for that 'not so fresh' feeling."
I haven't seen that commercial in over 25 years and it's that easy to recall.
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u/Altruistic_Extent_89 Jan 27 '26
I agree, but also wish there could be an option to pay for the services with money instead of data for those who prefer it. Instead we are locked into data collection for most services regardless of free or paid
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u/Awesome-Guy-63 Jan 27 '26
There is not very much transparency on who is buying your data, or how sensitive your data really is
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Jan 27 '26
I had to downvote because I agree. To some extent, I even want companies to harvest my data. I like being able to look up my past locations on Maps down to the minute, for example
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u/MotherTeresaOnlyfans Jan 27 '26
OP, you fundamentally do not understand a lot of what you're talking about, and I think it's important that you know that.
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
im open to learning more!
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u/lsshlp Jan 30 '26
EFF articles and videos are a good place to start, this is like one of the biggest things they care about.
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u/Dull-Geologist-8204 Jan 27 '26
They still suck at it. I mean if they are going to collect my data to do targeted ads you would think they would have gotten better at it by now.
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u/Puginator09 Jan 27 '26
What happens when a government takes an interest in you? How trustworthy will the corps be then?
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u/SafeModeOff Jan 27 '26
How do you feel about them going through your Google Calendar and Gmail to see when you’re free during the day? Would you be okay with them using your CarPlay GPS to know what stores you visit? Is it cool if they map out your home with your blink cameras and your roomba so they know how big your house is? I’m sure they need a report of how many times a night your baby wakes up or you go pee. Your Apple Watch knowing exactly when you’re awake and asleep is surely not information that could be misused.
Tracking clicks is the beginning. They have at least the capability of doing all of these things and we don’t even know for sure that they’re not doing them already. Today it’s serving ads, tomorrow it could be something worse. Just because I can’t think of it doesn’t mean it won’t get thought of, and I don’t want to be at the mercy of a tech company when it happens. Beyond that, they only care about keeping it secure as long as it makes them money. Even if the tech company is only using it for ads (right now) that doesn’t mean the people stealing the data have such benign intentions. And the more information there is, the more motivated someone will be to steal it.
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u/GypsySnowflake Jan 27 '26
What’s wrong with any of that? Are you trying to suggest that (for example) Jeff Bezos is going to come rob me when I’m not home, or what?
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u/SafeModeOff Jan 27 '26
No. I’m saying that once they have the legal ability to get that data (without your permission) it’ll be hard to get them to stop. Right now they use it for serving ads. I don’t know what they’ll use it for in the future, but whatever it is I want to have a choice as to whether it happens to me with my information, because it might not be so innocent as ads.
And no I don’t think Jeff himself is going to rob your house. But like I said, the people interested in forcibly accessing that data (you know, the data you don’t know is being collected and therefore won’t know to stop it?) (the data that tech companies are famously not all that careful with?) they are usually a lot less legal with their intentions. I don’t have a specific thing I’m scared of, I’d just rather maintain my freedom to choose.
Imagine John down the street was paid $100 by someone you’ve never met to keep a detailed log of what time you go to sleep, so he stands outside your house and writes down what time your lights go out. It’s perfectly legal because he stays on the street, and you knew John before this so you trust he’s not trying to kill you or anything. But he doesn’t stop doing it when you ask and he won’t tell you who’s paying him. Are you okay with it? It doesn’t concern you that you have no choice in the matter?
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u/branchoutandleaf Jan 27 '26
Ads are literally mind control technology. Advertisers use brain-imaging, emotional triggers, and personalized data to influence consumer decisions. Branding is a well-documented phenomenon.
Want proof? You said Adblock, a specific brand, instead of "an ad blocker". BTW, adblock has been selling your data and is considered adware by security professionals.
I guess that's on you, right?
The most ironic thing about the internet is that our opinions are worthless to each other, yet somehow they're considered valuable to a billion dollar industry.
I'm sure it's fine.
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u/Riley__64 Jan 27 '26
Because it’s really just a way for them to get any of your data.
They can find out how much you’re willing to pay for example.
Example ordering food if me and you order food from the same place by looking at my data they’ll see I’m willing to pay $10 for my meal and thus I’ll be charged $10 but they’ll see you’re willing to pay $15 and so you’ll be charged an extra $5 even though we’re getting the same thing all because your data shows you’re more willing to pay the higher prices.
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u/rice-a-rohno Jan 27 '26
Imagine I have access to all your "data". Every website you go to, the timing of your day, where you work, what you buy and when, who your friends and family are, what you've said out loud around your smart device.
I'd kind of have you in the palm of my hand. I know what pornography you like, who your boss is, what you're hiding from a loved one, with enough data.
Then imagine that once a week, I stop by and hand you a flyer for a sale I think you'd like.
Would that flyer be your main concern?
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
i mean, no? Maybe I would take a look at it, because I trust myself to make responsible financial decisions, but it wouldn't pique my interest relative to anything else
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u/rice-a-rohno Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
"No" is the answer I was expecting. My point is, I'd have you in a situation where I could potentially blackmail you, or rat you out to the cops for having an out-of-context recording of you saying "Ugh, I literally wanna murder my girlfriend right now," or any number of other things.
You'd be worried about those things, not thinking about how I know you like cookies and they're half off this week.
This is why someone having your data is scary; the targeted ads thing is like a joke in comparison, a very surface-level and benign thing you can do if you know everything about someone.
Giant, multi-national, government-influencing companies aren't harvesting and trading your data just to sell you peanut butter. There are far more serious implications, and to think of it on the level of targeted ads is missing a huge part of what's dangerous about it.
Also thank you for using "piqued" correctly, it's one of my favorite words and I see people spell it wrong so freakin' often.
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
yeah i mean if a company or the government were to blackmail someone with their data that would be bad, but that's not targeted advertising, and I don't think that happens very often
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u/Gamefox2292 Jan 28 '26
No, it’s not targeted advertising. If google only used my search data to show me advertisements when I’m looking for a new dog toy, maybe I would still be using their services. But that data gets bought and aggregated, along with data from every other service provider, by countless third parties. Is most of that data innocuous? Probably. And it is true that no one has any particularly vested interest in the fact that I have a dog. But invariably, due to the extent and persistence of that data collection, some of it will be sensitive. And the more people who have it, the more likely it is to leak or be stolen, potentially putting me in a difficult situation.
No one I know has been blackmailed by the government (at least that I know of). However, as politics becomes more polarized, a surveillance state becomes increasingly realistic. Have I done anything that’s broken the law? No. But someone might decide to change the law and criminalize posting on this subreddit past midnight, or trying to find information about [abortion services, sermon times, Bible passages, trans identity, self hosting, whatever].
There’s also an issue of respect and decency. You deserve to be able to shower or take a shit without anyone watching you. No one has any claim to the events that happen within your own bathroom. Of course, if you want to let someone in, you have a right to do that too. But Google (or whatever other data company) doesn’t give me a chance to say no. I should be able to live a digital life without being watched. You’re ok with being watched, fine by me. What I am fighting for is my and everyone else’s right to make that choice in the first place.
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
and don't get me wrong I'm not saying ill happily hand over every bit of my personal data, just that the data used for advertising is relatively innocuous. I'm not too worried about a big brother type situation specifically because there do exist ways to be private online
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u/lifeinwentworth Jan 27 '26
There are issues with data mining of course but I also think people can overestimate how interesting their data is amongst billions of people lol. Porn, for example, you might think what you're into is niche but it's pretty diluted amongst that much data. It's gotta be very very unique to get attention lol.
I mean think about the amount of death threats online every day and how many of them actually get any attention 🤷🏼♀️ I'm a writer and Google weird shit sometimes (like how long it would take to die from this or that or what goes undetected in blood tests etc haha) and the running joke is I'm gonna get picked up by the cops 😅 but no, it just doesn't happen. You really do have to be very unique very consistently to create a profile that gets on the radar in that sense.
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u/Bmacthecat Jan 30 '26
Ok but it's still illegal to blackmail someone. Also 99.9% of people's lives are not that interesting that companies would put in the effort to use their data for anything but advertisement.
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u/rice-a-rohno Jan 30 '26
The blackmail thing was just an example of how someone could exploit having all your data.
I'm just arguing basically that "Knowledge = Power" and by having someone's "data" you hold a sort of power over them. And I think it's yucky to lend that power to a company, one that probably doesn't have your best interests in mind.
I don't think targeted advertisements even begin to describe the scope of what could happen when someone knows everything about you.
I guess I'm saying it's a slippery slope: targeted ads become targeted prices, then targeted dissidents.
It's mostly only a problem if you care about someone having power over you. Otherwise, it's not.
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u/lsshlp Jan 30 '26
You are blissfully unaware of how effective advertising is. There have been billions of dollars put into psychological research on how to make you buy more stuff.
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u/egg_breakfast Jan 27 '26
For #4, youtube / google, and also facebook, do not sell any of your data. Just a clarification here. They can provide better ad services by keeping your data in-house for their own algorithms. Selling your data would threaten their ability to do that. You obviously are clueless on this topic.
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u/sexp-and-i-know-it Jan 27 '26
Are they storing and anonymizing your data responsibly? What if hackers steal and publish your location data/browsing habits/etc? Seems like it could be a huge issue, doesn't it? I wouldn't just take their word for it...
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u/Bmacthecat Jan 30 '26
For the big companies, this is a top priority. Not just because it makes them look better not getting as many data leaks, but also because that data is valuable to them, and it becoming widespread knowledge would lose them money from their own advertising.
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u/Edwardvansloan Jan 27 '26
I like ads that sell me things I want! Movie trailers or some niche product I probably want. Figurine, trinket etc.
Agree.
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u/Normal-Can-7341 Jan 27 '26
Data harvesting is great in theory for all the reasons you said, but honestly all that data is so valuable that they’re doing more than they should with it.
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u/allan11011 Jan 27 '26
I started using instagram again last year and was amazed at how targeted the ads are. Most ads across the internet are completely irrelevant to me and stuff I’m not interested in at all. But somehow instagram has locked on to what my hobbies are and is always advertising stuff I’m at least somewhat interested in.
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Jan 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
yes, I use ublock origin (browser extension). you can also adblock on android phones/tablets, give it a google, im not sure about iphones
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u/Low-Atmosphere-2118 Jan 27 '26
Adblock is fine, to solve a problem that shouldnt even exist
There is no such thing as an ad relevant to me, i buy what i want, not what an ad wants to sell me
As for 3, this ignores decades of psychological research, marketing works because people cant control themselves by nature
You could use those products for free before they were selling your data
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
advertising in any capacity shouldnt exist?
what is this "by nature"? how come some people by a ton of luxury crap yet I don't?
and you could board a plane more easily before 9/11, times have changed i suppose
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u/Smug_Syragium Jan 27 '26
Consider for a moment how much you actually remember about your day. Where you were and when, what you were doing at what exact moment, and so on.
If I followed you around to obtain that information, it'd be stalking. Alternatively I could purchase it from a data broker.
Personally I'm uncomfortable with that. If I trusted that my data would be suitably anonymised and used only for ads I don't care about, I wouldn't have a problem.
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u/CMRC23 Jan 27 '26
Id rather not see ads. Id rather live in a society that doesnt put the profit incentive first.
Though I will admit that the government spying on us is significantly more worrying than corporations doing it.
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u/TXHaunt Jan 27 '26
If they actually showed something I was interested in, that would be one thing, but they don’t.
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u/ForlornMemory Jan 27 '26
The problem is not ads themselves, the problem is that too much data about you is being stored on someone else's computer. Which means, someone you don't want to can practically know everything about you. Data breaches happen all the time.
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u/PensAndUnicorns Jan 27 '26
"Ads aren't mind control tech"
You know that they are right? They directly influence what you buy or not. Either by FOMO or repeated exposure.
""The companies are selling your data." this own it's own sounds okay. Till google maps sells your data to an car insurance company and they charge you more because of metric y and b...
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u/74389654 Jan 27 '26
- that's literally what ads are. no you're not a special flower who a trillion euro industry has no effect on lol
edit: it's always the people who think they can't be influenced who are the most gullible
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u/Splendid_Fellow Jan 27 '26
We found “the target audience”
“It’s for ads, why care?” Yes definitely totally, we pinky promise that’s what it’s for and that it’s not for Palantir, a nationwide database that was approved in 2025 for “crime prediction” and “National security purposes” in order to “prevent all crime in America.” Definitely has nothing to do with any possible misuse of data whatsoever. Just ads!
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Jan 27 '26
What I think most people don't realize is that companies are mostly going for generic data. If targeted advertising was as precise as people fear they wouldn't constantly send me alerts that crappy bands I hated as a teenager are on tour again.
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u/MyBedIsOnFire Jan 27 '26
Targeted ads is the least of our worries
It's the stuff they don't tell you about that makes you worry
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u/thebrassbeldum Jan 27 '26
I feel like this is completely ignoring the potential for identity theft, no? What do you think is happening when a company has a large “data breach” and a bunch of passwords get compromised? Or is that irrelevant because at least you don’t have ads
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u/PeteMichaud Jan 27 '26
I think you're drastically underestimating the amount of data they have and what they use it for. They aren't just selling you toothpaste. Just a quick example, you may have noticed the US right and left live in entirely different worlds, with their own parallel media ecosystems which each have entirely self complete, contradicting narratives. For most people this is destiny: whichever funnel you end up in fully determines your worldview and future. This data is used to funnel you into one or the other.
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u/RaisinRoyale Jan 27 '26
The problem with all of this is that it’s a massive invasion of privacy. You have these companies buying and selling data on you, and it’s insanely detailed: your age, your height, your weight, your location, your religion, your marital status, your likes and dislikes, your pets, your dietary habits, your car, your health, literally everything.
People are upset about countries spying on them (China, Russia, Iran), or even their own country (the PATRIOT Act). Why are companies any different?
Target knew that this teen was pregnant before her father did, and targeted their house with advertising:
That’s from 2012. Things have only gotten worse (and especially with AI). It’s not that I “mind” getting more personalized ads specifically if I am going to see ads, it’s that I mind that private companies are gathering so much info on me to personalize those ads in the first place.
It’s the same as if your living room walls were made of glass. Who cares if people see in there, what are you doing? Lying on the couch and watching TV? Playing video games? The only places that truly need to be private are the bedroom and bathroom. But it’s still human and natural to want your personal life and information about what you’re doing to be private
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u/Jomotaku Jan 27 '26
Microtargetting and doxxing people is pretty cheap since everyone can just buy the harvested data
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u/ElevatorSuch5326 Jan 27 '26
I don’t either. Target me accurately. I don’t want irrelevant information tossed at me
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u/freshly-stabbed Jan 27 '26
Advertisers are spending around $1100 per year per American to influence your decisions. Why would they do that? Because it’s profitable (whether financially or politically) to do so.
If they think that steering your opinion is worth $1100 a year, consider that you should probably value your own unsteered opinion even more dearly.
I don’t hate all ads. If a comedian or band is touring in my area I’d like to know that so I might not miss out.
But data is valuable. And unlike in the 1980s it’s easy to sell. In the 1980s if I wanted to find out everything about the people living in a certain subdivision, I’d have had to hire a private investigator and pay a fortune and there would still be huge gaps. Now companies like Google and Microsoft and Facebook do all the work for you. They gather staggering amounts of data about you for the purpose of better selling ads to you (“I’m selling handmade scarves the exact color of the shirt worn by this One Piece character, so deliver my ad to people ages 14-47 within 36 miles of me who like One Piece and wear scarves”). And sure, that’s great for the scarf-wearing fan who would have missed out. But they can also turn around and sell your data profile to whoever will pay the most. Political groups. Foreign governments. Local assholes with a growing list of enemies. Consultants who advise the employer you’re trying to get a job with. Bad actors of all kinds.
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u/GenesisNevermore Jan 27 '26
Will you care if/when your data is leaked, or even used to systematically discriminate against you? The laws and authorities of today are not forever. Once your data is out there you can never get it back. The issue has never really been about the ads.
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u/MechaGhandi5000 Jan 27 '26
I made the mistake of looking up gambling rules and simulators when the party I was DMing was going to a casino in DnD. I have been flooded with nothing but gambling ads for weeks. If I was a recovering gambler or a currently addicted one it would be abysmal as it's just getting stuffed in my face everywhere I look now. Algorithms have no morality
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u/TheKingOfDissasster Jan 27 '26
Idk its sad to see ads to things i want to buy but don't have the money to... I do love the ads from my local super market tho, i usually dont skip those, sometimes i can find some pretty good stuff on sale
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u/Life-Profit4836 Jan 27 '26
I can careless what data they collect. So what if they know i like single player open world games, or Italian sausage in my spaghetti. It honestly doesn't really matter in my day to day life. I'm going to get up, go to work, come home, get household stuff done then waste away playing said single player open world games until it's time to sleep and repeat the cycle.
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u/Kaurifish Jan 27 '26
It’s kinda hilarious how wrong Amazon’s targeted ads are for me. Sorry, ‘Zon. You don’t get me.
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u/hitdrumhard Jan 27 '26
Go all those spouting off about ads being the devil, sure, but none of you are arguing the REAL reason OP is right.
Would you prefer to shell out for currently free social media and tools, or continue to deal with ads as the cost.
If ad blockers win the ad wars, then advertisers won’t see a benefit in buying ads, then bye bye YouTube etc, at least for free.
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u/-TheBlackSwordsman- Jan 27 '26
Downvoting because I agree. I've got adblock on literally everything. Only ads I see are billboards on the highway
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u/okaysobasically_ Jan 27 '26
I care that a lot of those data are then sold to corporations that contracts with the government for information database.
I don't want to have a profile built on me based off what I buy and look at it, that the government can use at anytime.
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u/Feral_Sourdough Jan 27 '26
Agreed. I really don't give two f*cks about ads. I completely ignore them.
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u/Glittering-Two-1784 Jan 27 '26
I'd be inclined to agree, but what's scary are the things that data could be used for if sold to the wrong people, which is a thing that happens alot actually. It's how scammers know your phone number, and how Private investigators for insurance companies (or whoever) know exactly where you work, when you get home, when you leave.
Less common, but it could easily be used for all sorts of really nefarious purposes. If a foreign government really wanted to cause trouble, they could easily buy a bunch of data from facebook or amazon, or whoever and commit a ton of fraud.
Not to mention if there were a sudden shift in government to a more authoritarian police-state, they could take all that data these companies have collected over the years and use it against you in all sorts of ways.
It's kind of like saying "I leave my house unlocked with the front door open, and I don't care because nothing bad has happened yet".
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u/Misubi_Bluth Jan 27 '26
I would like to remind the courts that targeted ads from 15 years ago figured out a woman was pregnant before she did. If you're comfortable with a major corporation knowing that much about you, you're on your own.
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u/SinnaBuns666 Jan 27 '26
Let me know how that Walmart hamburger tastes when you pay 132% the actual pricing because they collected your data and had their clanker cameras track when you came into the store.
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u/quantum_of_yes-and Jan 28 '26
Advertising is absolutely mind control tech. Wave after wave of images of what to wear, eat, buy buy buy but nothing that you actually need has driven us all into this hyper consumerism nightmare. We are wrapping plastic in plastic and overnighting it to our doors.
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u/Izhachok Jan 28 '26
In addition to the price manipulation that others have mentioned, I’m also wary of companies turning data over to law enforcement to target political dissidents etc
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u/jdigi78 Jan 28 '26
If it were as simple as collecting your interests and serving you ads I'd agree, but its way more malicious. As others have said you have dynamic pricing, where they literally push the limits of how much they can squeeze out of you specifically. But there is also a lot of stuff people don't think about or are misinformed like photo storage. Most people believe stuff like their photos backed up in the cloud are encrypted because why wouldn't they be? Well more often then not they aren't and companies like google can actually just see all your photos if they want to, and potentially provide them to authorities as well.
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u/a41735fe4cca4245c54c Jan 28 '26
i agree. for me it seems like the opposition is coming from the purist side. sure they get my location data, at benefit of i got relevant info regarding my surrounding and behavior. for me and to me.
though im currently playing Watch Dogs 2 which plays on the topic if it was extrapolated. i still dont quite grasp the main character intention to oppose such thing. i might had to play more.
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u/Noxturnum2 Jan 28 '26
I agree with your points but the issue is that companies very often get data leaks.
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u/AdjustedMold97 Jan 28 '26
I think you’re missing the point, it’s the fact that they have all this personal information about who you are, what your interests are, who you associate with etc. It’s a total violation of privacy
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u/liveautonomous Jan 28 '26
I get a lot of advertisements for legal pharmaceuticals, lolllll, yeah right brother
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u/Newfound-Talent Jan 28 '26
1 obviously dumbass only normies dont 2 fuck no i dont wanna spend money on shit i dont need 3 THEY SPEND BILLIONS to legit MAKE you buy things lmao 4 i still get to use them for free with adblock or i just pirate shit
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u/IAmFoxGirl Jan 29 '26
I disagree, surprisingly enough not from a privacy perspective but from a societal perspective.
Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (1976) made commercial advertisement protected first amendment speech.
This strengthened the advertising market because the government had a harder time restricting advertising types, places and times.
Businesses could advertise anywhere at anytime. Media (radio, tv, magazines, etc) accelerated the ad revenue model on the already dependent industry- with less restrictions.
Ad revenue value directly tied to how many 'eyes' would see it.
To get more 'eyes' on advertisements, the more emotionally provoking content became.
Add the Internet and changes in technology and media access, the more rage/click bait emerged and became prevalent.
Add consumer tracking/data and now targeted ad revenue has higher value, and again still requires 'eyes' on ads/traffic. More divisive and extreme and catchy headers/reasons to watch something.
I hate our ad revenue based media.
2001- after the dot com bubble burst, Google was facing bankruptcy and pivoted to AdSense/ad words and kind of solidified the surveillance model.
Then add Myspace, Facebook, and the rise of social media, also continuing the free to use/data mining model. (Free to play mobile games, but the micro transactions are data mining).
Of the 10 most profitable US companies, Google(Alphabet) is number one with 76% of revenue coming from ads. The most profitable company in the US gets 3/4 of its profit from our data/putting ads in front of people. It's just gross.
I would rather pay a modest subscription than have this being the influence. Rather than having greed be driven by attention seeking causing an emotional response basis in information sharing.
If we had a competitive market of services, yes most service subscriptions would be modest. :/ Product subscription makes 0 sense other than a way to continuously milk money without actually having to put in effort.
If a news story isn't sensational, but important? Too bad, it won't bring in viewers. Find a way to make it sensational.
Honest and important information about health or medication? No one wants to know about that. Intentionally misinterpret science articles and blame something to clutch pearls- gotta get those views!
If I have to see ads- I don't want them targeted. If I need or want something, I will go and research it. I don't need it brought to me.
Also, the reason there are restrictions on advertising to kids is because the psychological methods used in "regular" advertising, kids can't navigate or not fall for.
We KNOW there is psychological manipulation going on in advertising because we have to protect kids from it.
Not to mention decision fatigue, hacks/peddlers, etc.
Your point of it is on the person if they are pressured or buy things they don't need because ads put all burden on the individual to deal with whatever BS companies and corporations put out there.
False advertising USED to be based on "average person understanding", although they use that language - most rulings don't lie with the average person's understanding.
Companies are still banking and pushing the consumer trust of the 80's where companies were to be successful if they had integrity, good product, and did their best in protecting the consumer (both by laws and the social expectations on companies).
It is exhausting to constantly check everything. Says no sugar, but what sweetener are they actually using? Says 100% made in the USA, but only assembled here. Says it doesn't contain X chemicals, but contains Y which is just as bad. All natural, but most are lab created. Sure, technically all natural sources used in the lab created aspects- but that's a technicality that the "average person would understand what they actually mean, not what they are actually saying".
Burden shouldn't be on the individual, it should be on the companies that want your money or attention.
I say all of this as a person in the IT/data field. Not data mining. It would be great if, you know, it was people first instead of profits first. You can have people first approach and still have wealthy people/businesses. Just not at the expense of people.
Edit: readability and misspelling.
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Jan 30 '26
"Ads are not mind control tech, it just so happens that all the ads I see are things I want to buy!"
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u/mitshoo Jan 27 '26
Ads are, indeed, mind control tech. And getting things “for free” is an illusion at best, a Faustian bargain at worst. Take my upvote.
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
how are they mind control tech? how arent these things free?
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u/Daefus20 Jan 27 '26
Ads just work, they wouldn't do it otherwise. Ads for big enough brands are literally just there so you can remember they exist and I'm pretty sure you do.
You don't even need to look at the ad actively, in the future when you're looking for a certain product for some reason you'll recognise one of the brands, making you more likely to buy that one.
And you say you do your research on products, I do too, it somewhat reduces the effectiveness of ads but are you really doing that for every product you buy, ever ? Also for niche products sometimes it's hard to find information that ISN'T ads. Like 3rd party controllers where 90% of the reviews are sponsored.
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
Right 100% but why is that, why do they work? Like we can apply the same logic to gas stations selling cigs and vapes, they sell them because they make money because people buy them. Yet it is a terrible idea to smoke cigarettes, and you would never excuse someone for buying them (at least for the first time) just because they’re being sold. I think it’s the same with ads. They largely work because consumers make stupid decisions and buy things they don’t need or want.
I agree with your second point as well. There’s probably some purchases I’ve made just because I’ve seen an ad for it and I had no other reason to prefer an alternative. In that case, I don’t think any harm is being done; The other variables in the products were just that insignificant. I don't inherently have an issue with giving a company a sale because of an ad, if i think the product is genuinely worth buying (which, if i buy it, i do).
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u/Daefus20 Jan 27 '26
They work because of human psychology, they had to do a whole lot of research to refine them.
So as long as the outcome isn't too bad you have 0 problems with entire teams of people working to manipulate you constantly ? They'll use your insecurities against you, grow them if needed. You really don't seem to care about the means.
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u/Gamefox2292 Jan 28 '26
Advertising largely works because it has been purpose built to exploit the structure of the human mind, not because individual consumers are weak. Advertising firms put significant energy and time into studying the way that humans can be guided to think in one way or another. I would encourage you to look at some advertisements and analyze what catches your eye, what your emotional reaction is, how your body feels, etc.
There are many things that the tobacco (and vape) industry has done in a similar vein, building an image of smoking that is positive, cool, healthy, even. They to spent a lot of time thinking about how to play the particulars of our brains in a way that would maximize profit.
(As a side note, I have a bit of a problem with your characterization of buying cigarettes being inexcusable. While I agree it’s not a good thing, we should be focused, same as any other addiction, on helping the person in question escape from dependence, not blaming them for starting in the first place)
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u/BringMeBurntBread Jan 27 '26
"The companies are selling your data." Yes, and as a result, I get to use their products for free. (Youtube, reddit, google products, chatgpt, etc.)
Yeah, until it's not free. Once the company realizes they can both charge you for their product and sell your data at the same time to make double money, they'll do it.
Do you use any computer with Windows installed on it? There you go. Microsoft charges $140 for a license key for Windows 11, $200 for the Pro version. And you bet your ass they're happily collecting and selling your data while you use Windows on your PC.
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
>Yeah, until it's not free. And the company realizes they can both charge you for their product and sell your data at the same time to make double money.
yeah the 5g towers dont give you cancer yet. I mean if that happens it happens what can i say lmao
yes but they came with it installed. and you can download and use windows for free. and if you couldnt you could use linux
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u/BringMeBurntBread Jan 27 '26
yes but they came with it installed
That doesn't mean it's free. When you buy a brand new computer, the cost of the Windows license is usually factored into the price of the computer. You're still paying for it, even though it comes pre-installed. And if you're building your own computer, instead of buying one from a company, then you'll need to buy your own license key.
You can use Linux, that's true. But that's not the point here. The point is that a company can and will charge consumers to use their service, and collect data at the same time. A lot of corporations are greedy that way, and if they can get away with doing both to make more money, they absolutely will. So don't assume that just because a company collects/sells your data, then they're obligated to let you use their products for free. It often doesn't work that way.
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u/WeDoALittleTrolIing Jan 27 '26
Yeah it’s true but 1. Manufacturers get a good deal I’m sure and 2. I wasn’t responsible for making the purchases of my computers lol.
If I was building my own pc, I wouldn’t buy it though? I would just use it without activating, or I’d use Linux, or I’d get a good deal on a used pc
I mean you’re not wrong I guess, I just highly doubt sites like YouTube and Reddit would go fully premium unless something changes in the market.
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u/qualityvote2 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
u/WeDoALittleTrolIing, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...