Regarding Facebook tracking non-users Mark Zuckerberg said "This kind of data collection is fundamental to how the internet works."
I'm not a networking expert but I know enough to be able to confidently say that nothing at all about this data collection is fundamental to how the Internet works. I guess he was using Silicon Valley speak where "the internet" means "huge corporations who make most of their money by selling ads and illegally collecting as much data as possible".
@eribloodlust i am a networking expert, and i can assure you that advertising is not fundamental in any way shape or form.
The fundamental pieces are some physical cables, and protocols (IP, BGP, DNS). Advertising /may/ pay for some things, but hasn't paid a dime for the cables, IP, or BGP.
let me put my "devils advocate" hat for a moment and say many submarine cables have been paid for by advertising dollars. a similar argument can be made for the current pricing & ubiquity of 100G switching gear -- "hyperscale" datacenters are because of FB & Google. which are ad companies.
@aag @phessler @eribloodlust hey! did you know many of the new tech have been payed with war dollars?
:)
Do we need to support the war then?
You pointed out a really interesting point we should analyze, but i think it's not really fair in this context.
@ekaitz_zarraga @phessler @eribloodlust
I think it's important to be cognizant of how much internet infrastructure is driven and funded directly by advertiser companies (FB & Google).
"Fundamental" is the debatable point. I think if Google & FB (and everything they're growth has deployed directly & indirectly) disappeared tomorrow, the internet would function just fine.
far better, even (again, imo)