this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
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Asklemmy

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Like why do they care how many times I go to porn hub every day or that nothing gets me harder than a free use MILF? Why do they care that I don't know how to spell consistency so I have to Google it every 3 months.

What the fuck is wrong with people?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Cool. Now I can subtly influence you to pay for your free use MILF porn. Or use MILF models in your ads to make you more likely to buy shit.

Even if you don't think you can be influenced by that stuff it still likely to change your behaviour just enough, even just 5% more spending which makes it worthwhile to them.

But honestly your data barely matters on its own. But once it's merged with everyone else's....that's when it's valuable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

We’ve waited all this time to tell you. Unfortunately, we have run out of time. The reason you’re so interesting is

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It builds pattersns for you and people like you.

Dynamic demographic catagories

You are now, at in part, a "free use MILF guy" in their database, so they can now shaped content for you based on other "free use milf guys" who may have more actionable info like "buys guns" or "clicks ads with light hues".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Or mine, "has only ever clicked an ad by accident and immediately closed it every time, we'll keep trying I guess. Oh fuck, he got uBlock."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Yes, but what you click on through articles, and where you stop strolling for a while in a feed (suggesting you are reading the post), and what videos you watch, and what you buy online, and who you correspond with by email and their preferences, and…

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Q: "Why are companies ..."

A: Money.

Every time. Sometimes also some competitive advantage or image or by mistake, but even those are just money with extra steps.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Because the last bastion of zombie capitalism is pushing money around.

Folks buy this information because there are other folks willing to buy this information. And so on... and so on...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

$$$

Other companies are willing to pay big money for your data so they can specifically target people who are likely to buy their shit. Also, now the government is buying that data so that they can unconstitutionally keep tabs on every person in the world.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Also political organizations want this data to help them target potential voters more effectively.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

I can't find the source to save my life, but I believe it was a Google engineer who once said "with enough data, every problem is a regression problem".

[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Why are tech company's

They're trying to track the patterns of people who attempt to pluralise words by using apostrophes. It's funded by linguists studying language change.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Better watch out, they also go after people use "s" instead of "z" in "pluralize".

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

You're not safe either, I heard they're also after people who forget to use the word "who".

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

You mean, mother fuck whom

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Do you have money? If so, knowing all your secrets and quirks is a good way to get a dollar off of you for slightly less than a dollar.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Pennies on the dollar, you mean.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

No, that would be a massive get-rich-quick style return the way I wrote that. Pennies below a dollar, per annum, in order to get a dollar back as the beneficiary, on average.

It would be tiny fractions of a penny per dollar if you just look at the individual action that causes a purchase, but either it's the accumulated effect of a lot of actions over time, or it's a gamble that doesn't work the vast majority of the time, so you're back to the standard ROI everything has.

It's not just marked ads, by the way. A lot of the stuff that happens with that data is invisible, although I can't say how much exactly.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

You know how they use facial recognition to kill people in the middle east? It's the same idea here.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Because your data is used to make models of your behavior and opinions. Once someone knows exactly what you do and don't like it's really easy to frame purchase and political decisions so that they sound like something you want, even if they're really good for someone else.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

And yet I keep feeding my opinions into the internet like a fool

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

Do they know I'm basically a monkey with depression? Can someone tell them that? Might answer some of the questions they are so desperate to find out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

This isn't about you. Your data is key in making other, relevant people stand out. Why relevant? Because they resist. Because they aren't depressed, they are fighting back. And whatever the reason that drives them, they can be manipulated. By compromising their anonymity. By making literally everyone else a "known variable". With your help.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

If they do it right, you won't even notice or feel like you have no choice to buy something.

They want to know you better than you know yourself. I doubt they would be interested in any information you would provide because it would be useless compared to what they can get.

Most of the phyc research is done by large companies to crack all our brains open so we open our wallets.

You're probably depressed because that is what they want you to be. So you maximize screen time for adds and purchases.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Depressed? Buy these meds! Or spend your money on these therapies, visit these Facebook pages/YouTube channels where we can show you more ads under the guise of providing advice.

Monkey? Buy this chic barrel! Visit your jungle homeland by booking through this travel site.

They want to know everything about you so they can sell you (and everyone who fits in the same bucket as you) very specific things that you're more likely to buy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Sure, monkey like meds. Monkey have more meds. Monkey love travel. Monkey buy travel.

Monkey have money for meds and travel?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

"Need money quick? Gig work! Sell plasma! Buy sell items on .com! Reverse a mortgage! Get credit today!"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

And if those don't work the Gun and Rope ads start coming in!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I think they'd be more interested in whether you're a bonobo or a chimp because those imply very different approaches to relieving stress.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

The single raindrop never feels responsible for the flood

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What the fuck is wrong with people?

Why do people care? Well, why do you close the door to the bathroom? Why dont you send me a picture of yourself right now ("What could I do with it anyway"?)

Some people care more about privacy than others. And most people simply don't know where all their data really goes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I mean what is wrong with they to think they should know what kind of depravity I'm into. Some messed up jabronys in this world.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Pixar seeing a rise in milf web searches: Ok boys it’s time to release another movie with a mom who has a dump truck ass.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Dump-truck-ass Pixar Moms are my kryptonite.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (1 children)

they’re interested because they profit from the marketing based on the data

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

More specifically β€” by matching all of your purchases with every data point about you, and the people you associate with, they can build out statistical models to determine the data points that most strongly correlate to people like you and what motivates or persuades them to GENERATE MORE PROFIT β€” direct purchases, attention, clicks, discussion, word of mouth, lead generation, etc, etc...

Or... You know... What motivates/persuades you to support a dictator or vote for a specific political candidate or party, as well as what demotivates/dissuades you from the opposition β€” including what types of psychological warfare, disinformation, deepfakes, "fake news", and lies are most successful in achieving these goals β€” all of which benefits the most horrifically immoral and unethical criminals, corporations, and individuals the most (the "good guys" aren't the ones using deception and lies to profit and win).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I mean if my grocery store app could track my purchases and then give me a suggested weekly grocery list based on meals it knows I like or ate before that would be incredible. Hell I'd pay for that lol.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

even more specifically to create what is know as W-shaped attribution. That you can zig zag around the internet (as if following the lines on the W) and when you end up at your purchase, one can analyze the paths you took, and millions of others took, and find commonality to reduce to the path of least resistance.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

To put it succinctly they aren't. They're interested in aggregate data so that a data engineer can use it to understand consumer trends and better predict marketing reach.

It's not specifically about you, it's more of a what they can claim to know about their consumers.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 months ago

Fun story: me and my wife kept talking about our nasty neighbour we call "the slug" and she got "Slug removal tips" on her YouTube suggestions.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

How much do FANG companies pay for such posts? I'm interested in making a career.

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