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There's nothing to whistleblow. Advertising is applied sociology. As such, advertisers want to aggregate large data sets into large segments that are easy to m

There's nothing to whistleblow. Advertising is applied sociology. As such, advertisers want to aggregate large data sets into large segments that are easy to manipulate statistically. (Where the central limit theorem starts working.) There is no demand for personal data or de-anonymization because that stuff doesn't sell. The personal data collection is done by Google, Facebook at al not for advertising purposes. They're collecting it because they view it as a resource and a currency in the future de-anonymized world. (Think China's "social capital" except on a larger scale.) Source: I've worked in the ad industry for over 15 years.

everdrive 7y ago
I think in some circles the meaning of the term "whistle-blowing" has drifted enough that people use it interchangeably with "reveal." Given your 15 years of experience, what resources do you recommend to HN so that we can learn more? Can you give us a "life of an advertising bit," eg: A person visits a website on their phone, that information is accompanied by x data on their phone, goes to the initial ad server, this information is compiled against data from sources a,b,c, etc ...
user17843 7y ago
My question to someone from the ad-industry would be if there are known "intersections" between these anonymised data sets ad-tech is using to sell as much as possible, and companies who buy these data-sets to connect them to real identities. Especially because the web is full of Privacy notices people agree to, and I guess in some of those people actually agree to have their anonymous browsing data connected to their real identities.
- otabdeveloper3 7y ago
  "Known"? Probably not. Like I said, knowing real identities is the last thing on the list of ad tech priorities. If shadowy entities are collecting "real identities" then it's not for ad purposes.
cik2e 7y ago
> There is no demand for personal data or de-anonymization because that stuff doesn't sell. Say what?? I’ve also worked in the ad industry and deanonymized personal data is shared and sold routinely. You speak of statistics and large segments but every advertiser I’ve interacted with is either doing individual-level targeting or striving towards it.
- nerdponx 7y ago
  To wit, A few weeks ago there was a discussion here about a method by which you could figure out how fast a browser/machine could compute an SHA 512 hash, and that this was being used to fingerprint users even who had cookies, images, JavaScript disabled.
  - SquareWheel 7y ago
    Was it just a proof of concept demonstration, or was there evidence that this method is being used in the wild by advertisers?
    - nerdponx 7y ago
      They stated that they were using it in production for that purpose.
      - SquareWheel 7y ago
        Gotchya, thanks. That seems... kinda wild to me. That method has to be super imprecise, and wastes the resources of everybody involved.
  - bo1024 7y ago
    I would like to see more. How can you get their computer to compute the hash? Is it somewhere in the https interaction?
    - nerdponx 7y ago

everdrive 7y ago

I think in some circles the meaning of the term "whistle-blowing" has drifted enough that people use it interchangeably with "reveal." Given your 15 years of experience, what resources do you recommend to HN so that we can learn more? Can you give us a "life of an advertising bit," eg: A person visits a website on their phone, that information is accompanied by x data on their phone, goes to the initial ad server, this information is compiled against data from sources a,b,c, etc ...

user17843 7y ago

My question to someone from the ad-industry would be if there are known "intersections" between these anonymised data sets ad-tech is using to sell as much as possible, and companies who buy these data-sets to connect them to real identities. Especially because the web is full of Privacy notices people agree to, and I guess in some of those people actually agree to have their anonymous browsing data connected to their real identities.

otabdeveloper3 7y ago
"Known"? Probably not. Like I said, knowing real identities is the last thing on the list of ad tech priorities. If shadowy entities are collecting "real identities" then it's not for ad purposes.

cik2e 7y ago

> There is no demand for personal data or de-anonymization because that stuff doesn't sell. Say what?? I’ve also worked in the ad industry and deanonymized personal data is shared and sold routinely. You speak of statistics and large segments but every advertiser I’ve interacted with is either doing individual-level targeting or striving towards it.

nerdponx 7y ago
To wit, A few weeks ago there was a discussion here about a method by which you could figure out how fast a browser/machine could compute an SHA 512 hash, and that this was being used to fingerprint users even who had cookies, images, JavaScript disabled.
- SquareWheel 7y ago
  Was it just a proof of concept demonstration, or was there evidence that this method is being used in the wild by advertisers?
  - nerdponx 7y ago
    They stated that they were using it in production for that purpose.
    - SquareWheel 7y ago
      Gotchya, thanks. That seems... kinda wild to me. That method has to be super imprecise, and wastes the resources of everybody involved.
- bo1024 7y ago
  I would like to see more. How can you get their computer to compute the hash? Is it somewhere in the https interaction?
  - nerdponx 7y ago