The Core

Nice explainer. I knew they were using proof of work methods, but didn’t kmow that it was also based on browser history. That would explain why tracking blockers kick you to the puzzle solver methods.

No, you don’t have to give up your privacy, but barring signals that you are not a robot, you will be forced to solve puzzles.

Since I run tracking blockers on most sites, I am frequently presented with puzzles whereas a person with a default browser setup would sail through.

As always, you get to choose between level of privacy and level of hassle. The hassle of genuine privacy in 2023 is something few people in the rich world are willing to consider. The things that compromise privacy the most often also add the most convenience or help with quality of life(credit cards, health care, government pensions for example).

As often as possible, I use fake DOB. And I use my Rick Deckard alter ego if a website has no real reason to ask my name. So my spamcatcher email is full of "Hi Rick," emails.

But it's all a drop in the bucket. The credit card companies and credit reporting agencies know pretty much everything there is to know about me. What they don't know, Google knows.

The flip side is all of this does add real convenience. There was a time I traveled with a stack of cash and, maybe, traveler's checks. In 1985, I hitchiked down the west coast of the US after a summer in Alaska with no credit card and $3500 (about $10K inflation adjusted) in saved wages in my pocket in hundreds and twenties.

I didn't leave much of a trail. The flip side is I could have lost a whole summer's wages and I was pretty nervous a few times but, strangely, not with the guy who's first words to me were: "You f### with me and I'll kill you." ;-)

For me, it's not the privacy, but the manipulation. And that's where siphoning my browser history is a concern - it's not that they *know* because there's nothing there I am not willing to share, it's that it can be combined with other data and deployed to manipulate my behavior without me understanding that.

So that's why, even though it's a losing game, I run tracking blockers just to make it that much harder for them and to at least reduce ROAS across the system if possible (easier for me to say now that I don't buy ads). But admit the truth - if you're buying ads, you always wish you knew just a little bit more about the people seeing your ads.

>> A difficult accent for me.

That frustrates me. I sometimes have to ask the person to repeat a thing multiple times before I can understand and I resent the waste of time. I wish that companies running phone centres would insist on better accent / diction training to suit the market they'll be conversing with.