To the headline-only readers, be aware this article is largely not about advertising making products more expensive, but instead mostly lamenting ad-tech, terrible modern search, and proposing privacy regulations.
IMO, the cat is mostly out of the bag at this point. I don't think there will ever be regulation meaningful enough to "untarget" advertising to the degree that privacy advocates might hope. At best you'll be able to regulate some of the more egregious abuses, like phone apps surreptitiously listening to conversations to pick up keywords for advertising, or installed apps sending your phone's location data while in the background. It's simply too easy to track usage data these days to expect advertisers to not fingerprint visitors, especially when almost all visitors to major websites are logged into Google and Facebook.
Regulation will continue to be mostly toothless like GDPR, which as far as I can tell has been a largely bureaucratic way to extract extra money from Google/Meta/Amazon in the EU by fining them for unclear cookie consent banners and privacy statements. Which, to be clear, is a good thing, but extremely ineffective at doing anything about the actual invasive tracking they do.
Props for the heads-up to "headline-only readers".
> a largely bureaucratic way to extract extra money from Google/Meta/Amazon in the EU
This can not be overstated. The EU should concentrate on creating things of value of their own, like privacy first services, not constantly prioritizing leeching off innovation and progress in other countries.
Speaking as a concerned European here, with plenty of criticism of the way the potential for liberating human knowledge and interaction using the fantastic technology at our disposal has largely been corrupted by FAANG et al and ad tech.
The issue is not dichotomic. There is value in enabling advertisements for products and services, the problem is in the unfettered overreach: the grotesque amassing of personal information and the near unchecked marketing of products that are (or close to) scams.
Case in point: the cryptocurrency scams that littered Facebook as late as a few months ago (I don't think they have ceased but I was kicked out then, maybe because I habitually reported these scams to no effect - except being bombarded with even more of them ...).
The problem is that’s hard for everyone downstream. I used to sell stuff on Amazon and EBay from surplus auctions as a side hustle. Initially you could run a sustainable business with 20-30% gross margins. When I got out, you needed 60-70% margins.
So you really need to be selling a lifetime customer with value beyond the first sale, sell some bullshit story, or junk/scam/stolen product high margins.
That’s why drugstores get looted… people sell toothpaste on Amazon.
IMO, the cat is mostly out of the bag at this point. I don't think there will ever be regulation meaningful enough to "untarget" advertising to the degree that privacy advocates might hope. At best you'll be able to regulate some of the more egregious abuses, like phone apps surreptitiously listening to conversations to pick up keywords for advertising, or installed apps sending your phone's location data while in the background. It's simply too easy to track usage data these days to expect advertisers to not fingerprint visitors, especially when almost all visitors to major websites are logged into Google and Facebook.
Regulation will continue to be mostly toothless like GDPR, which as far as I can tell has been a largely bureaucratic way to extract extra money from Google/Meta/Amazon in the EU by fining them for unclear cookie consent banners and privacy statements. Which, to be clear, is a good thing, but extremely ineffective at doing anything about the actual invasive tracking they do.