"The question of how we expect to run the internet economy and preserve user privacy is becoming more pressing for everyone though."
It should be run like the economy should be run, with consumers paying for the things they consume directly, rather than via an advertiser proxy at significant additional costs to us all[1]. Then there would be zero need to violate user privacy except where it strictly required for end-user desired functionality, and users can vote with their wallets.
The invisible hand only works correctly with such a direct buyer-producer relationship.
This notion of "free" websites and web services is a lie and needs to be exposed[1].
Comments
It should be run like the economy should be run, with consumers paying for the things they consume directly, rather than via an advertiser proxy at significant additional costs to us all[1]. Then there would be zero need to violate user privacy except where it strictly required for end-user desired functionality, and users can vote with their wallets.
The invisible hand only works correctly with such a direct buyer-producer relationship.
This notion of "free" websites and web services is a lie and needs to be exposed[1].
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7485773