Microsoft proves the critics right: We’re heading toward a Chrome-only Web

Re:Microsoft proves the critics right: We’re heading toward ... by pythux on Tuesday March 12, 2019 @07:09AM (#19366994)

> How does Cliqz make money?

We're currently proposing a mix of client-side private offers (not unlike Brave) and paid products (e.g.: Ghostery premium, and more are being worked on as we speak). Users should have a choice.

> I notice you said your products are designed to not require private data collection; presumably that means they do it, but could in theory work without doing it. That comes across as weasel words.

No. That means that we do not collect personal data. And being able to do so took (and still takes) a lot of research and careful design.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft proves the critics right: We’re heading toward ... by pbhjpbhj on Tuesday March 12, 2019 @08:41AM (#19367525)

>client-side private offers

What's that mean, it sounds like you mean "advertising with discounts in?", not sure what "offers" means if that's not it?

Brave browser has advertising, so it sounds like you're saying your income _will_ come from ads?

That's not an awful thing, so it's weird you're not up front about it??

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft proves the critics right: We’re heading toward ... by pythux on Tuesday March 12, 2019 @09:55AM (#19368118)

Since it was literally the first thing I said in my answer, I consider it pretty up-front. I'm happy to give you more details about it since you seem interested. The basic idea is this:

1. All clients download a database of offers locally (they are basically vouchers, we call them offers because they have the potential to make users save money).

2. While browsing with this feature enabled, URLs of pages as well as some other information accessible locally are processed by the extension which tries to detect the intent of buying something online.

3. When an intent corresponding to one of the items in the local database is found, an offer is shown with a coupon that can be used to save money.

What sets it apart from ads in my opinion is that everything happens client-side and that the offer is only shown when there is a clear intent to buy something (instead of all pages with traditional ads). This means that users will actually see very few of them, but that they should be very relevant and useful (you save money).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft proves the critics right: We’re heading toward ... by mlinksva on Tuesday March 12, 2019 @08:04PM (#19374353)

This seems similar to how Firefox Directory Tiles worked, except when/where the ad was presented to the user (new tab page in the FF DT instance). I thought it was a good idea, and I'm pretty skeptical of advertising (tax ads is my preference). I don't think trying to call it not ads gets you anywhere though, other than lost credibility.

[ Parent | on HN ]