I think you spend 50 percent of your mental energy trying to defeat ad systems. Tim Wu More Quotes by Tim Wu More Quotes From Tim Wu I'm kind of calling for a - I'm not the only one - you know, a revolution of some kind where we try to take back the web or start something new because, you know, the dominant medium of our time is in a desperate state and it doesn't have to be like that. Tim Wu revolutioncallingtrying Wikipedia, a nonprofit, is an enormously popular website but has managed to operate without advertising. And, you know, maybe it's a little simpler than Google and YouTube, but it does show there's another way. Tim Wu wikipediagoogledoe If you have a weakness for furry slippers or something, you might end up with that kind of advertising. It's a very complicated algorithmic decision. There's no one dude who's deciding what ads are going with things, and it's very individualized also. And that's the idea of collecting information is that in theory, you're showing people things that they should want to see or for which they are a good target. So, no, there's no master person. Tim Wu decisionpeopleideas What's so interesting about the internet - I keep saying this - is the web has gotten worse over the last five years as opposed to better. Tim Wu lastsyearsinteresting I'm kind of concerned the combined effect, not only Google, all these companies is kind of to make us more boring and that seems the opposite of what the Internet was supposed to be. Tim Wu googlekindopposites The Internet, you know, 10 or 15 years ago sort of felt like the wild West. You could go out there and do anything and search for things, and, you know, find out about stuff. Now always in the back of my mind, you know, whether it's email or whatever else, it's like, well, is this going to show up somewhere? Is someone going to keep track of this and, you know, know I was searching for - maybe it's an embarrassing disease, maybe it's a weird hobby? Tim Wu trackmindyears I'm afraid when too many people know too much about you, it actually makes us all a lot more boring because you're afraid to express yourself. Tim Wu boringtoo-muchpeople If you have a disease and suddenly start getting ads for cures for that disease and it's an embarrassing disease - all that kind of stuff it just gets into that zone of autonomy or privacy where you feel a sense of freedom to be who you want to be. Tim Wu diseasewantstuff I'm concerned with our autonomy. I don't like the idea of people collecting information on me in general, but I particularly don't like it when it's used to sort of exploit your weaknesses or make you lose control in some ways. Tim Wu weaknesspeopleideas Much of this conduct has been hiding in plain sight. Tim Wu technology
