BuzzMachine

cuz they want to collect demographic data and place a cookie on your browser so they can sell your precious ads

Come on.

Broadcast television is ad-supported. Newspapers would cost a heck of a lot more without ads. And I see this blog has ads as well.

So why would you expect CBS not to be able to sell ads for its

CBS is dumb, that’s why.

There is a double standard when it comes to media on the web. Generally the thinking behind registration is to get info on their users so they can sell an “audience” to their advertisers. For whatever reason business types think this is a fair thing to do on the web.

I sat in a newspaper meeting once where we discussed adding registration to our site for this very purpose. I asked how they find out their “audience” for the print version. They said, “Oh, we just do a readership study”. Besides, Amazon has proven you can find out enough about users just by looking at IP addresses (those many people from [insert place here] liked this).

This is a real annoying way for old media to keep the web in its place.

I don’t understand why after all these years, companies still think the info they get from registration is anywhere near accurate or useful. I mean, everytime I’m asked to register, I just make up stuff and the email is always a free account I use only for registration purposes (to get password, key, etc.). And most, if not all, of my friends and colleagues do the same!

I know CBS is new to the game, so they’re naive to the stupidity of registration. But what about all these other companies with long presence on the web not only requiring registration but some even make you take a survey before allowing you to view a page? Do Jeff, or anyone, have an answer?