It doesn't matter if that person was good at his job (which btw from whatever his peers say about him, he most definitely was) - everybody deserves a right to at least be told that they are fired and no longer working at the job.
The Chrome Web Store is functionally a malware distribution system. There's no real moderation to speak of, and the vast majority of desktop PC malware is distributed by it.
If you're looking at it that way, then we should apply even more scrutiny over native apps we install on our machine and not single out extensions.
Also, not all extensions run on every single site. Also, some extensions actually help in blocking malware, crypto-trackers etc so the potential upsides are also great.
No, GP said to only trust these two extensions and no other extensions. While they are entitled to their opinion, IMO that is such ridiculous. There are many many extensions which provide value which don't do shady things.
Also, there is nothing wrong in advertising as a concept. Advertising has existed as long as products have existed. The problem is tracking and data collection/exploitation about some very granular aspects of users.
Also, even if you take away advertising, the problem remains of addictive apps and 'persuasive' design which will still remain. To tackle that is a whole different discussion altogether.
Guess I am missing out ignoring and blocking all ads I see. I do think there're better ways to conduct business than basing entire business model on ads.
>The industry is a fundamental conflict of interest, designed to convince people in most cases to buy things that they may not need
Thats a bold assumption. If I have a business then I will advertise my product in the hope that people will see it and make a decision by themselves on if they need or want it, and make an informed choice to buy it.
Besides, its not about needs, but also about wants. Humans are driven by not just strict needs, but also aspirational desires, ambitions and tastes. For e.g, nowdays you don't really need a wrist watch anymore since you can tell the time from your mobile phone which most people already have, still the demand for such watches is there because it seems to fulfill some other desire that there is no longer any strict 'need' for. There are various ways you can make such watches (different price points, aesthetics, quality of materials, after sales service etc) which also appeals to different sets of humans. Ads help in getting the word out on your brand of your wrist watch in the hopes that some people out there will find it appealing enough to buy it.
