[flossposse]

> People prefer ads to paying.

People's use of ad-driven services should not be taken as a true expression of their preferences, or as consent. The data that is collected in the name of ad-tech is used for many things other than to display ads. But most people have zero awareness of that. The true price we are paying is kept hidden from us.

People who would prefer paying with money rather than data are not given the opportunity to express that preference. There is no premium version of YouTube where my viewing history is not tracked. No "AT&T Platinum" subscription where my location history is not sold to third parties.

[edmundsauto]

Maybe it’s just my social circle, but for about 20 years I’ve been having these conversations and approximately 0% of people care about this stuff. They just want cheap or free crap.

The human mind seems to, as a default state, only care about visible and immediate cost, filtered through a lens of many other biases.

At this point, I feel we need to judge based on observed behaviors rather than armchair psychology of what people actually want but have been given no chance to try. Alternatives to Google exist only as a niche; to me, this feels like pretty conclusive evidence about what most people prefer.

[amelius]

In addition, with the ad-based monetization model the user actually pays _more_ than if they paid the content publisher directly. Because ads make products more expensive, and more than you'd expect. The ad-watcher is basically subsidizing the existence of companies like Google.