Distantly related to the prior post is the following which has puzzled me for some while. I do some minor gaming online, crossword puzzles, solitaire, mah jong, and the like. Those often contain ads for other games which I am repeatedly assured contain no ads. And they are not the sort of game which would reveal my interests, potential purchases, or other things of value to a marketer.
I know the ads I see cost the owner of the game money to run, and yet there is no obvious income stream attached to the games they would have me download. Which makes me wonder, why do they bother? What is in it for them if I play their game? Does whatever I download contain malware which surveils my online activities and reports same to their database? Will they end up storing stuff on my computer or using it to relay anonymous stuff?
As attorneys ask, “que bono?” Latin for “who benefits?” What is in it for them? Something obviously, for it isn’t the case they do it for ego gratification or as a hobby. How does it make money for them?
