Are targeted ads even ethical?

[Shawn Gossman1]

Is it ethical for companies to use user data for targeted advertising? Should users have more control over their data?

I'd love to know what your opinion is on this matter!

 

[Tracy]

Personally.. for my site... I don't use ANY ad service provider. If I did anything, it would be offering ads for specific vendors that I could vet before offering them on the site.
As for user targeted advertising.. if one is going to offer ads, it's probably much more appreciated by the end user that the ads actually be about something they are interested in. If I'm interested in astronomy...I probably don't care about what plants to put into the ground when.
Of course, my site is still a hobbyist site that is 100% financed out of my hip pocket... so I really don't worry about ads.

 

[Uncrowned]

I actually wish Adsense had non-targeted ads. I personally don't like the tracking, but I also don't find targeted ads very appealing as 9 out of 10 times they are showing a product that I just searched or looked at and I likely don't need to "discover" it as a new option to buy.

 

[Shawn Gossman1]

I actually wish Adsense had non-targeted ads. I personally don't like the tracking, but I also don't find targeted ads very appealing as 9 out of 10 times they are showing a product that I just searched or looked at and I likely don't need to "discover" it as a new option to buy.

That's what kills me about AdSense ads, it shows you what you've already bought or searched for.

Now I have a feeling AI is going to change this. I am sure AI will be able to predict what you want to buy based on how fast it will be able to determine your behavior on search.

But again... is that even ethical?