> If the data was made up, they wouldn’t be able to serve effective ads.
The data being collected about you isn't about advertising. It's used for an ever increasing number of things that impact your real life including things like how much you get charged when you buy things, what services you're told exist or are eligible for, how long you get left on hold, what policies a company will tell you they have, and who will hire you. The data being collected about you can be used against you by police, or in courtrooms, and in custody/divorce hearings.
Even when the data is used for advertising (along with scam attempts, the manipulation of your opinion, and political propaganda) "effectiveness" is a very uncertain thing. No one expects that everyone they target with a campaign will bite. The effectiveness and accuracy of targeted ads isn't exactly certain to begin with.
> With just one parameter - gender - the data is only 42% accurate. That is less accurate than if you just did “spray and pray” with no targeting at all — i.e. you would have still hit the right gender 50% of the time. With two parameters - gender plus age - the accuracy is down to an average of 24%. Some data brokers were far worse, with single digit percent accuracy. Third party profiling of audiences is so inaccurate, it’s better to save your money and do “spray and pray” instead. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/augustinefou/2021/04/19/ad-rele...)
The data being collected about you isn't about advertising. It's used for an ever increasing number of things that impact your real life including things like how much you get charged when you buy things, what services you're told exist or are eligible for, how long you get left on hold, what policies a company will tell you they have, and who will hire you. The data being collected about you can be used against you by police, or in courtrooms, and in custody/divorce hearings.
Even when the data is used for advertising (along with scam attempts, the manipulation of your opinion, and political propaganda) "effectiveness" is a very uncertain thing. No one expects that everyone they target with a campaign will bite. The effectiveness and accuracy of targeted ads isn't exactly certain to begin with.
> With just one parameter - gender - the data is only 42% accurate. That is less accurate than if you just did “spray and pray” with no targeting at all — i.e. you would have still hit the right gender 50% of the time. With two parameters - gender plus age - the accuracy is down to an average of 24%. Some data brokers were far worse, with single digit percent accuracy. Third party profiling of audiences is so inaccurate, it’s better to save your money and do “spray and pray” instead. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/augustinefou/2021/04/19/ad-rele...)