Reading Log ForMarch 10, 2023 (#21)

The title says it all. If I need to login or enter my email to read your article, I’m not going to. I’ll simply close the tab and move on.

The web is becoming a miserable experience because some salesbro who is trying to meet his KPIs is doing stuff to marginally increase the number of paying customers.

I get that websites need to make money and that ads don’t always cut it…especially when there are so many like myself that block ads. But if I’m just reading a single article, cut me a break.

And Elizabeth talks about that too.

I understand that. Shit, if I’m reading more than 10 of your articles a month, I probably should subscribe. Fair’s fair, and writers have to eat just like everyone else.

I do subscribe to some sites to support their journalism, but sadly I don’t have the money, nor time to subscribe to everything. I’d like to, but I, and many others can’t.

I’m not really a fan of TikTok. I don’t have an account and I can’t see any reason that would make me create an account. That said, if the government or other entities are worried about China slurping up all our data, I got news for you…banning TikTok isn’t going to stop them, it’ll just drive them to other sources, like the unregulated data broker industry.

If the concern is China, the best defense is to pass laws and regulations that target the data brokers. The laws and regulations can have the added benefit of protecting U.S. consumers from those gathering all our data, both foreign and domestic.