> > "There is no valid counterargument to the abstract idea. The fact is that if a company had better data and analyzed it more completely, they could obviously produce better experiences for their users."
> I think this is something that you don't need hindsight to understand is wrong. Modern ad driven companies work to maximize 'daily user interactions', not quality of experience. A lot of people think these are strongly correlated, but I think optimizing for that is likely to drive your products into bad directions for users.
Unfortunately that is also not a counterargument to "the abstract idea": this shows that companies don't produce better experiences, not that they couldn't produce better experiences. In fact I think, much as I am on your side on this, that the evidence shows that companies with more information can and do provide better experiences—for just long enough to normalise the privacy violation and lower expectations, at which point they turn from their users to the true audience of advertisers and other, uh, curious parties.
Another way to think of it is that you can't truly optimize for user interests if you're not beholden to them; and if you take possession of their data, you're no longer beholden to them. To serve your users fundamentally means to empower them.
> I think this is something that you don't need hindsight to understand is wrong. Modern ad driven companies work to maximize 'daily user interactions', not quality of experience. A lot of people think these are strongly correlated, but I think optimizing for that is likely to drive your products into bad directions for users.
Unfortunately that is also not a counterargument to "the abstract idea": this shows that companies don't produce better experiences, not that they couldn't produce better experiences. In fact I think, much as I am on your side on this, that the evidence shows that companies with more information can and do provide better experiences—for just long enough to normalise the privacy violation and lower expectations, at which point they turn from their users to the true audience of advertisers and other, uh, curious parties.