Corporate America, They’re Invading our Privacy!

I personally think there should be a law against advertisers soliciting search information to be used to bombard us with ads. We pay to receive internet service, we don't pay to have outside corporate interests to gather information on us.

Nobody can solicit in front of a business unless they get approval from the store or business. We can't solicit information in a magazine or website unless we pay an advertising fee. Why should it be any different with consumers? Our home is our private domain. I think consumers should have the right to stop the invasion of their privacy. This goes for junk mail, courtesy calls, and the amount of advertising we have to sit through when we’re watching our paid satellite or cable TV. Our homes are becoming one big billboard!

It's unfair that consumers are forced to accept solicitation by corporate America but we're denied to solicit in their place of business unless they approve it! I get so sick and tired of having to watch 3 or 4 minutes of TV. Advertising! Even when you try to switch to another station they intentionally schedule ads to correspond exactly at the same time so it's impossible to avoid them! The cable and satellite companies are raking in huge profits from these advertisements, yet every year they continue to raise consumer's monthly bills.

I remember a great segment on the Jerry Seinfeld show when he was interrupted by a courtesy call. He told the person on the other end of the line he was too busy now and asked if he can call back later that night at the person’s home. The person said he couldn’t do that, so Jerry said “now you know how I feel” and hung up. Lol.

Corporate America is in the driver’s seat, and it has to stop! They control our government and the consumer. Is there any wonder why voters are angry this election? Our representatives do nothing to protect our privacy and constitutional rights, but will bend over backwards to protect the rights of corporate America!

There really is a simple fix.

As there is no Constitutional Right to Privacy on the Internet or television and what little there may be imagined you give up by freely accessing those mediums, it is easy..

Shut off all Internet and Television service to your home.

a reply to: semperfortis
If enough people were really committed to their right of privacy, they would shut the doors and turn out the lights.

They will never take us seriously about our demand for privacy, when we are freely and continuosly, broadcasting selfies of ourselves every second of the day.

For those that say it is different when I post that selfie of me brushing my teeth or eating my lunch, I say the moment you clicked the send or post button, you invited the entire planet into your life, and you will never be able to put that genie back into the bottle.

If we really want privacy, we will pull the plug.

a reply to: WeRpeons

Just like the NSA, they don't ask for permission. They just do it.

It's widely accepted now that this is the way it is, and it's not going to change.

You do also know without those pesky ads, we wouldn't have websites that give free content. Would you rather pay $1 every post made on ATS?

(Excluding membership options, subscription, or donations)

a reply to: luciferslight
The whole reason for cable TV, way back in the begining, was to avoid the ads. Yep. Pay TV was extorsion, to be free of ads. Fast forward a couple of years, and people were paying more for cable, and we were getting ads up the ying yang.

Fast forward a couple more years, and they offered receivers that would skip the ads, for an extra fee of course.

Fast forward a couple more years, and now we are expected to gleefully pay each web site to be free of ads. Those same web sites that would be as popular as My Space, without their members.

I dumped TV, I dumped cable, and I dumped my smart phone. If it comes down to it, I will have no trouble dumping pay for view web sites. I am just not going to pay for something I don't need, don't want, and that I find offensive.

When I dropped cable, I started Cello lessons. Spinal problems makes it hard for me to play my beloved Cello now, so I pulled out my old Classic guitar, and my old Acoustic. They both need a little work on the nut and the bridge but, with the new strings, they are functioing well enough to get my fingers back into condition, so my time away from the web will be entertaining and productive, without a monthly fee attached, for something I don't want.

That is just me. To each their own.

a reply to: semperfortis

So since the consumer has no other choice but to patronize stores for food, clothing and other merchandise, a simple fix would be to live off the grid? Let's be real, consumers pay for a service. They don't pay to be solicited along with their service! The media charges a lot of money to place ads in their domain. So why is it alright for us to allow them to place their ads in the privacy of our domain?

I always chuckle at the ads they throw at me.

If they knew me that well they'd know I have no money to buy their stupid crap!

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

It's not about pulling the plug. You and I are paying for a service to receive in the privacy of our home. Granted what ever we send out on the internet we lose that privacy. However, we're not soliciting ads, plain and simple. If the media can charge for solicitations by businesses who want to advertise their products, than the consumer should charge for allowing it to come into their homes, or they should receive a discount on their monthly bills for allowing it!

If the municipal water authority were able to advertise through the faucets in your home, would that be acceptable too? Just because some of these services have an outlet to generate advertising income doesn't mean it should be at the expense and privacy of the consumer!

a reply to: FamCore

You're right, it's been going on for so long people just accept it! Yet, we also shrug our shoulders when these same services raise our monthly bills, year after year. It just makes me mad when consumers are taken advantage of and our government representatives stand by and allow it.

a reply to: WeRpeons
You are preaching to the choir. I agree with you 100%.

The problem is that the majority of the people are willing to put up with this invasion of their privacy and are willing to pay for this invasion as long as they get to keep their electronic chains.

It baffles my mind that they are so hell-bent on staying loyal to this whole advertising construct. Does it really work? Is it really worth all of that money and effort? I know they say that you are effected by advertising even if you don't think you are, but you could've fooled me. All I see are people being irritated by having ads shoved in their face to the point of feeling, like you say, that their privacy is being invaded.

I will admit that the occasional movie trailer interests me. That's it. I can't even fathom the idea of saying to myself, "Gee that chick eating that cheeseburger sure is hawt! I want to go to Carl's Jr. now!" Or "Huh, maybe that talking animated gecko has a point; I should give Geico a call." Are there people who really respond this way?

The repetition is a form of torture. I don't know how people can handle watching tv for hours, seeing the same commercials over and over again. I will often boycott a product purely because I am so annoyed with its commercial.

And so-called targeted ads on the internet? Don't make me laugh! I have never seen an ad that I believed was targeted towards me. If they were, I feel sorry for whoever is collecting info on me because they suck at their job!