More spying please!

Some people are rather paranoid about all sorts of software which is used to "spy" on you, spyware, cookies, and so on. I don't know what these people imagine that this software does. Most of it is created to send you better targeted advertising, and I can only support that. The alternative to targeted advertising is untargeted advertising, and not "no advertising" as you might think. I really wish that internet advertising would get more targeted, not less.

For example it should be trivial to determine from my IP address which country I live in, and thus stop advertising products to me that I can't have access to. The last ad I clicked on was for a Direct2Drive download of Civ4. Hey, great, I'm a big fan of this form of software distribution. I could have cancelled my Amazon order, and saved myself the wait by downloading the game. No such luck, when I click on the ad it directs me to a page on which above the product description it is clearly stated that this game can only be sold and downloaded in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. So why send advertising about it to people living in the other 189 countries of the world? I also regularly see ads for TV shows that run only on US TV channels, and which I simply couldn't watch even if I wanted to.

As the name suggests, the internet is international. But many advertised products are not. I'd be in favor of lifting some stupid artificial restrictions, for example on somebody from Europe legally downloading software from the US. But for some products the restrictions aren't artificial, a pizza delivery service requires that you live in the geographical vicinity of the deliverer. If by "spying" on me the internet advertisers managed to send me only ads for products which I could really buy if I wanted, they would be welcome to do it.

(Disclaimer: Obviously spyware which is made to steal your identity, credit card details, or passwords, is *not* welcome. I'm only talking about legal spyware, not about hackers.)
- posted by Tobold @ 12:07 PM Permanent Link