Categories: Potter Gold

The information panopticon cometh pt XVII

What happens when your ad network knows you are gay but your co-workers don’t?…

by Andrew Potter on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 3:49pm - 16 Comments

What happens when your ad network knows you are gay but your co-workers don’t?

This strikes me as a fairly important question.

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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bergkamp bergkamp

    I have some basic idea what ad networks are but I had no idea they were that specific or knew that much about your personal surfing habits. When I first read "This strikes me as a fairly important question" I disagreed than I read that column and now think you are correct.

    However, I can't say I trust the US government, or any other government for that matter, to get it right when proposing new regulations. I have visions of cure being worse than disease.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Open_Democracy Open_Democracy

    Surfers can stop this ad targeting in its tracks by signing up for a proxy service like Proxify. We shouldn't have to but to preserve our privacy, it's a viable option.
    http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

    "That can prove awkward when a client — say, a representative of a Baptist nonprofit — peers over his shoulder at shirt designs displayed alongside offers to "hook up with local guys," Mr. Woods, of Camden Printworks in New Jersey, said."

    I don't think Mr. Woods understands what he's talking about. Your average Christian org is not going to have any problem buying services from someone who happens to be gay.

    Where they may have a problem is if the vendor actively promotes something contrary to Christianity, since in that case the org is effectively paying for promotion of something they view as wrong. Since promotions are generally public, however, this would already be known by the org.

    Bottom line: seeing by targeted ads that one's coworker, customer, or vendor is gay isn't going to matter a damn.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

      I wish I lived in your world.

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

        I suspect, if you actually went and met with some actual devout Christians as opposed to believing the media's caricature of them, you'd find that you do.

        • http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

          I suspect you don't know crap.

          Large portions of my family are real-life devout Christians. They're also a large part of the reason why I'm not. I'm afraid your world is not what I've found is the norm at all.

    • non-partisan

      Gaunilon sounds as if he has no idea what it is like to be gay. Which is fine, but he still sounds stupid pretending he lives in a world where people separate public/private so intellectually consistently as he does.

      Also, he refutes only the one specific example cited here. There are almost limitless other possibilities where an ad network knowing personal information about you could cause people, not just gays, problems.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/DZulu Dave Z.

    I wouldn't mind advertisers knowing my sexual orientation if such a large percentage of gay-targeted ads weren't so embarrassingly trashy. I cringe every time that I open my Facebook profile in a public space, and the first thing that comes up is a horde of semi-naked men advertising everything from "free" underwear to instant hook-ups.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

      If it makes you feel any better, the targeted ads aren't any classier for us heterosexuals.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

    Tell me, how do you know my sample is any less than yours?

    Or are you claiming God's omniscience for yourself now?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

    And once again, you don't know crap. In addition to my own family and experiences with religion (and I bounced through a few.. LDS, Baptists, Evangelicals, Anglican) there are also such wonderful examples such as the entire Westboro Baptist Church, Alberta pastor Stephen Boisson, The Christian Institute of the UK, and the Three Hills Christian College in Alberta to name but a few.

    So it seems to me that perhaps the tolerant Christians you know are the anomaly.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

      I suspect that by bringing up two of the media's favorite examples (with which I'm confident you have no direct experience) and your own experiences (one if which is not Christian btw) – you've made my point for me.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/tobyornotoby tobyornotoby

    If you liked this book you might also prefer this gender?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

    I see. And "large portions of [your] family" is a sufficient sample on which to judge Christians worldwide.
    Got it.

  • http://rfmcdpei.livejournal.com Randy McDonald

    " don't think Mr. Woods understands what he's talking about. Your average Christian org is not going to have any problem buying services from someone who happens to be gay.

    "Where they may have a problem is if the vendor actively promotes something contrary to Christianity, since in that case the org is effectively paying for promotion of something they view as wrong. Since promotions are generally public, however, this would already be known by virtue of the vendor's public statements. "

    So, if I'm out and advocating support for same-sex marriage, or just saying that Gay Is Good, it'd be OK for a Christian organization to decide not to hire me?

    (Hmm. Isn't that actionable discrimination?)

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

    Just an assessment of probabilities, actually.

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