This is a debate I've seen many times now on HN. I sympathize with what you're saying, but the flip side is that many users seem to prefer a free ad-supported funding model over a paid, ad-free model. If a site is going to be serving me ads anyway, then all else being equal I'd rather them make as much money off each impression as possible to incentivize them to keep providing me with free services. The privacy and resource cost of a user's browser sending anonymized attribution statistics is very minimal.

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nemomarx 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Do you want to click through and spend money on the ads?

If not you aren't really working towards them paying a lot for ads, right?

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gruez 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>Do you want to click through and spend money on the ads?

Nobody "wants" ads, but they do want the free content they get today, which are funded by ads.

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Ajedi32 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Maybe? Depends on what the ads are for. Obviously I'm not going to buy something I don't actually want just to support the site I'm on, but I have no particular objection to buying something I discovered through an ad if it's something I would buy anyway if I discovered it organically.

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troupo 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> many users seem to prefer a free ad-supported funding model over a paid, ad-free model.

You don't need pervasive and invasive tracking and wholesale trading of your data to display advertising.