i’m sure that someone’s already posted this but this part of google’s proposal to add drm to websites is a hell of a tell in terms of how they see users
source: https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity/blob/main/explainer.md
Someday, the only task that humans will be allowed to perform is looking at ads. All other work will be delegated to robots, who do not have human flaws such as getting distracted. Looking at ads, however, must never be automated.
In other words:
If I am a tech company owner, part of the cost of doing business is that I have to pay tech support staff to help users solve problems they run into while using my products. If I decide to fire the tech support staff and replace them with chatbots, this is good, because I am lowering the cost of providing tech support by replacing expensive human workers with cheap AI programs. By automating work that needs to get done in order for me to achieve my goals, I am increasing value for my shareholders and being economically efficient as the Invisible Hand of the Free Market intends.
If I am an ordinary person trying to look at a web site, part of the cost of existing in the world and getting information that I need in order to survive (or to entertain myself enough that the work of survival isn't quite as miserable) is that I have to look at ads. If I decide to automate the transaction of "showing that I've seen an ad", I am lowering the cost, for myself, of getting information on the web. However, unlike when the tech company owner does the same thing, when I automate the work that needs to get done in order for me to achieve my goals, I am a thief. I am being dishonest unless I do that work myself.
