He posted something saying that it wasn't meant to be released yet. He had sent it to some experts on August 6th and it made its way into the wild on August 8th. He posted what he said was an "updated" draft. It was there this morning but is no longer.
I think reddit users would be hesitant to allow their beloved website to start selling data about them. One of the things that drives reddit is the anonymity, why would they want to give that up?
Also, I don't think the author understands the extent to which reddit ads are targeted. Most redittors I know have it whitelisted on adblock and actively click ads because they find them intriguing.
"If you must have an iPad, then buy (and use) something open to balance things out." -- This doesn't really solve the problem of Apple eating our seed corn.
My point was more that the article itself gave absolutely no evidence besides pointing out that a thing was happening and that there is a website called 4chan that does things like this.
I personally do not browse 4chan but the evidence in that article was kind of shaky.
My high school was one funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and we tried to limit tracking as much as possible. For the first two years, there is absolutely no tracking. The idea is that the faster learners will help their slower peers who benefit from more interaction with their friends. Anecdotally, it seemed to work rather well but required students to initially be motivated to learn. My school never really had a problem with that because students applied to the school and could opt out of the application process without their parents knowing.
I (an intern) been discussing this with my boss as this movement has been growing for the past few weeks. I cam back from lunch today to an email from him with this article linked. Pleasant surprise.