What can you do, thought Winston, against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself?
— George Orwell
For no earthly reason, I drop random nouns like "Kumquat," "Flag Day," "Jeggings," "Aardvark," and "PT-73."
As Orwell said, when the lunatic is more intelligent, what can you do?
In 2021 alone, digital marketers will spend over $455 billion on ads. With financial clout like that, we're powerless to stop them from targeting us.
Our phone calls are likely to become the primary tool they'll use in the future, because today's leading tool—cookies—are going the way of the dodo.
Data-privacy nudniks are taking cookies away, denying marketers the ability to track you on line. (Ironically, socialists in the EU are to blame.)
Apple's Safari already blocks cookies by default. Mozilla's Firefox does so as well. Google's Chrome will begin to do so in 2023.
Bad marketer, no cookies for you!
But ubiquitous, AI-powered surveillance won't end simply because cookies go away.
Cookie-less, marketers will of necessity turn to phone calls for clues to our desires.
There is, of course, a high road marketers could take to target you.
It's called "consent management" (sounds like something an overworked lecher does.)
No—trust me—marketers will take the low road; they always do.
And Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google will be delighted to collect the tolls.
