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posted by n1 on Wednesday August 10 2016, @01:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the selling-everything dept.

Facebook is going to start forcing ads to appear for all users of its desktop website, even if they use ad-blocking software. The social network said on Tuesday that it will change the way advertising is loaded into its desktop website to make its ad units considerably more difficult for ad blockers to detect. “Facebook is ad-supported. Ads are a part of the Facebook experience; they’re not a tack on,” said Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, vice president of Facebook’s ads and business platform.

Source: The Wall Street Journal


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  • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday August 10 2016, @10:08AM

    by TheRaven (270) on Wednesday August 10 2016, @10:08AM (#386200) Journal
    Facebook is an advertising platform. Its entire purpose for existing is to harvest information about people and target them with adverts. If you don't want to see adverts, then creating an account on an advertising platform is probably not a great plan.
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  • (Score: 2) by mendax on Wednesday August 10 2016, @08:12PM

    by mendax (2840) on Wednesday August 10 2016, @08:12PM (#386367)

    No argument here with your assessment. What I object to is how the Facebook talking head called advertising part of the experience, as if being exposed to advertising is pleasant. Most of the time it's not. Supposedly, when the 1970's miniseries "Roots" was broadcast, the people at water companies around the country knew when the commercial breaks were on because the water pressure dropped. And how many times have we heard of advertisers trying to get technology implemented in DVRs so we can't fast-forward over the commercials?

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  • (Score: 2) by hash14 on Wednesday August 10 2016, @10:40PM

    by hash14 (1102) on Wednesday August 10 2016, @10:40PM (#386414)

    You make it sound simple, but it's rarely so. There are a lot of people on Facebook (maybe even a majority) who wish they weren't on it but are because of

    • social pressures (from friends, family, etc.)
    • work requirement
    • other technical needs and requirements (e.g. groups which only collaborate via Facebook or publications which are likewise only made available through that medium)
    • not to mention that actions others take on Facebook can also leak information about you, like when common contacts upload their information and now Facebook has your phone number, address, call and text history, etc.

    The fact is, when a service or technology becomes so ubiquitous that it's so difficult to avoid using, there _has_ to be some sort of regulation over it and what they are allowed to do. And there isn't any regulation over Facebook currently - our current best hope is that the EU will enforce some upon it and require that they enforce them globally. Not that this doesn't create a sticky situation either, but for entirely different reasons.

    • (Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Thursday August 11 2016, @12:07AM

      by Anal Pumpernickel (776) on Thursday August 11 2016, @12:07AM (#386450)

      social pressures (from friends, family, etc.)

      This isn't a reason to use Facebook, and just shows that the people who succumb to it are weak-minded. I have very little sympathy for sniveling cowards, especially since the repercussions of going against these "social pressures" are almost certainly negligible at best. Grow a spine, or people will walk right over you even on matters other than Facebook.

      work requirement

      This one is more serious. Quit or don't take the job. I expect that the number of jobs that actually require you to use Facebook is low, and no one ever said that sticking to your principles is always easy.

      other technical needs and requirements (e.g. groups which only collaborate via Facebook or publications which are likewise only made available through that medium)

      Don't join those groups and don't bother with those publications. If they're not going to do the work required to use a different website that actually respects users, they're likely not worth bothering with anyway.

      not to mention that actions others take on Facebook can also leak information about you, like when common contacts upload their information and now Facebook has your phone number, address, call and text history, etc.

      Try to refrain from giving your personal information to morons who don't care about privacy. Certainly don't text them, and don't have a cellphone.

      It doesn't matter how many regulations you create. If people don't start caring about privacy and anonymity and standing up for such principles, then history will continue to repeat itself. But as it is, even the flimsiest conveniences are enough to convince the ignorant majority to discard their privacy in exchange for shiny goodies.

    • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday August 11 2016, @10:58AM

      by TheRaven (270) on Thursday August 11 2016, @10:58AM (#386564) Journal

      Facebook is not difficult to avoid, but people who say 'oh, I wish I wasn't on Facebook but it's so hard to avoid' are part of the problem. The value of being on Facebook is entirely due to network effects. If more people with disposable income said 'I won't use Facebook' then there's a big incentive for companies to use other channels to reach customers. If more than a few percent in a social group refuse to use Facebook, then there's a big incentive to use something else to communicate.

      I have no Facebook account, and I have never had a Facebook account (though I do get fairly frequent calls from their recruiters, so it seems to not even be a blocker to employment at Facebook itself) and I get fed up with people who, by having a Facebook account, are guilty of applying pressure for other people to join complaining that there is pressure to join.

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