
The Rich See a Different Internet Than the Poor -- Scientific American - scholia
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rich-see-different-internet-than-the-poor
======
ctdonath
_If you live on the wrong side of the digital tracks, you won't even see a
credit offer from leading lending institutions, and you won't realize that
loans are available to help you with your current personal or professional
priorities._

From personal experience and rational consideration, I'd say credit offers are
NOT made "to help you". It's like saying bait is to help a fish by getting it
firmly prioritized on a hook.

~~~
theklub
I'm looking at this differently. I'm looking at it as a sort of censorship
that could be used not just in ads but in other parts of the web. Also what if
the web somehow know's what race I am.. would that make this different?

~~~
ctdonath
Don't confuse "censorship" with "freedom of association".

And just because a _few_ might abuse that freedom doesn't mean everyone should
be denied the right thereto.

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monochromatic
So... rich and poor people get served different ads. Who gives a shit? Pricing
differences based on user attributes are well-known and (while they offend
some) make a lot of sense.

The stuff about political echo chambers at the end seems to be thrown in
without any justification whatsoever. Is there any reason to think I'm seeing
pages that cater to my political interests (beyond the fact that I may
intentionally visit such pages)?

~~~
foobarqux
If the thing refuses to do what I want it to do because it thinks I shouldn't
have the knowledge I am asking for, either because that knowledge is forbidden
me or because I cannot afford it, if the thing I am facing is making that
decision then changing the way that thing behaves will change what I can have,
therefore will change who I can be because what I get determines who I will
become. -- Eben Moglen

~~~
monochromatic
We're just talking about what ads get served. Ads.

~~~
foobarqux
Ads are designed to manipulate perception and consequently distorts a person's
world view.

Don't you think that only seeing ads for your local community college versus
only seeing ads for Harvard will impact which school you try to go to?

Fortunately on the Internet there is an easy fix: Use Adblock. Unfortunately
not nearly enough people use it.

~~~
foobarqux
And as the commenter below mentioned this is more than Ads.

------
danso
This is an information-lite summary of the concept of targeted ads. I suspect
the difference between what groups see is more pronounced along geographical
and political boundaries...rather than there being a subset of ads that only
1% of the internet actually sees. I was hoping that the OP would actually have
some example of these 1% ads (private jet leasing? How to make money while
working at home in your off-shore mansion?)

~~~
px1999
Adwords has advertised private jet leasing in the past. The fact that they
appeared in my google apps indicates that the technology isn't as scary / all
knowing as the article tries to lead readers to believe.

It touches on but IMO fails to explore a bunch of legitimately interesting
topics - the sociological effects of filter bubbles, the ethics/legality of
digital 'redlining' (and how Google just picked up a patent for it no less),
formation of digital class divides as well as others.

It's a post that would have benefited from a less hyperbolic title, and
posting on eg a blog where it wouldn't be completely destroyed by editing. I'm
not sure who the 1% are supposed to be (advertisers, I guess?) and fluff
aside, the article doesn't really have much meat in its current form.

Also, wtf with having a second page containing 15 words that on their own read
like a drunken friday night text message and don't really tie in as a
conclusion?

~~~
cpressey
Most word processors are smart enough to not create widows
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widows_and_orphans>) but I guess the same
doesn't apply to CMSes yet. The cynical part of me thinks the last sentence
was added specifically to stretch the article to (just barely) two pages, to
generate more impressions.

------
ynniv
This is quite low quality, but as my "flag" link has gone away now you have
suffered it too.

Too Dull; Don't Read: Personalization and targeted advertising show different
people different things. Could be titled "Class Orange People See a Different
Internet Than Class Teal".

~~~
pnathan
Agreed, the title was linkbait, the content commonly known in HN.

I was considerably let down.

------
grep2
Who is interested in building the inverted echo chamber of the internet? Take
a standard recommendation algorithm, apply it to news, let's say, and invert
the similarity measure for the cluster the article belongs to.

In the best case, the end result would be a page filled with "relevant" (in
the sense of read by people with a similar background) articles, but
challenging your current position on an individual topic. Think having a
"small government" believer receiving an article about the success of nordic
social systems.

I, personally, would rather read such news than the "more of the same" you get
with a standard similarity measure.

------
bpm140
The 1% also get different ads when they read Robb Report.

Bug me again when people are involuntarily served _content_ based upon their
socioeconomic status.

